Maraud: Who We Are
by AnOctoberPepper
Summary: At barely 19 the Mauraders and Lily Evans are neck deep in a war against Voldemort, but life moves on and with weddings, motorcycles, full-moons, and close scrapes with death, they are all forced to ask themselves: Who am I? Sequel to: Maraud
1. Chapter 1: The War is On

_Hello new readers. So this is, technically, a sequel to "Maurad" a multi-chapter fic covering the time from Lily's 18 birthday to her 19th, though not necessarily about Lily in between. I'm not certain there is much to say to catch you up (It's the first wizarding war, you know how that went) but I thought I might let you know a few important pieces of information for this particular world, if you wish to read this without backtracking._

 _Spoilers, I guess, if you're planning on reading "Maraud"_

 _1) Characters- You'll recognize most of the names, but here are some OC's_

 _Melinda Bones is married to Edgar Bones. They have three children. Melinda is a healer and one of the few people in the Order who know about Remus's Furry-Little-Problem. She is uncomfortable about it._

 _Peter's Parents- His mother is teetering on the brink of dementia. He just found out that the man who raised him (and died when he was around 10) wasn't his biological father._

 _You'll catch on about the rest. (I hope?)_

 _2) Villains and plot synopsis of "Maraud"._

 _Crier- A death eater. Context: At the end of "Maraud" the Marauders are involved in a battle at Azkaban that ended with Voldemort and fellow Death Eaters being able to break Crier out. He is apparently a key figure in the Death Eater's future plans._

 _I think that's about it. Message me with questions. Hope you enjoy._

 _And to all my continuing readers, welcome back! Thanks for reading._

* * *

"We are _not_ letting Sirius pick the wedding music!" Lily argued, briefly poking her head out over the short brick wall that separated the house they were guarding from the Death Eaters who wanted to burn it to the ground- muggle family crouched inside and all.

"I'm just saying he's good with music. He picks the music for all of our birthday parties." James ducked a stinging curse, "WHERE THE HELL IS ELPHIAS!" He added from the ground, panting. Elphias, and an auror in charge of relocation were the muggle family's exit strategy. James and Lily were just there to hold off the Death Eater onslaught until they could get them out and to safety.

"He said midnight, I double-checked with him... Count of three?"

"Yes."

Together they yelled, "One, two, three." before popping over the hedge and sending a barrage of spells back at their adversaries. James took a moment to strengthen their wards before dropping back behind the safety of the bricks, "So what about getting Remus to come up with a spell to make the player go on its own?" James suggested.

"Remus is swamped and he's looked like death since he got back, I'm not making him do that."

"Then let me, let Sirius help!" Sparks flew over their heads.

Too many sparks flew over their heads. In a flurry of light and sound their boundary had finally fallen.

James cursed as Lily blocked a spell that was burning a hole through their protective brick wall. James sprung up to return fire just as the crack of an apparition spell sounded behind the house. "Elphias?" James wondered as Lily turned to counteract whatever spell the Death Eaters had used to break through their boundary. James crawled away from her to glance around the edge of the house, where he supposed the other Order member would have arrived. James saw a whisp of a cloak before he saw Elpihas and Harrington come out from the small woods behind the home. Elphias had set up an anti-apparition ward to protect the house and as far as James knew he was the only one who would be able to apparate through it. James looked over his shoulder. His and Lily's ward may have dropped but the Death Eaters still hadn't crossed Elphias's barrier.

Thought the window James saw the lights in the house suddenly flickered on, then off, then on for four seconds then off again. "House Lily." James called over the sound of spells. He reached out for her hand in the dark and together they darted toward the front door, staying low and throwing spell after spell over their shoulders.

James's hands were steady and practiced as he unlocked the front door. They burst through to the sight of a small family of four huddled nervously on the living room floor. Elphias hovered before them, but turned immediately at the sound of Lily and James's entrance. His wand shot up threateningly, "What did I bring to your first Order meeting?" he demanded of them both.

"Cheap champagne." James replied with an air of calm.

"Lily?" Elphias prompted pointing his wand evenly at her now.

"A card for everyone to sign for Evana Wagner. What were your first words to me?" Lily's fingers twisted at her wand, even though it was down at her side.

Elphias smiled warmly and lowered his wand. "How do you feel about the color green?"

"He safe?" James asked, nodding toward a man in maroon robes scanning the edge of the living room.

"This is Harrington from the Auror department. He is who he says he is." Elphias nodded. Lily and James relaxed at Elphias's reassurance, but the group's relief didn't last long. Elphias was back to the task at hand almost immediately, "The wards are breaking up, we only have a few minutes." Just as he spoke a string of sparks crashed against the window. Lily dove toward the family and put her body between them and the cracking window. The panicked parents were holding their children under them, hoping against hope that nothing would happen to them. When Lily looked up the she saw cracks like a spider's web crawling out to the window frame.

"The next step is the Longbottom's woods." Elphias explained. He pulled the two young children and Lily to their feet. He scooped up the younger of the two and placed her in Lily's arms then shuffled the other over to Harrington. She had only met Harrington once before but at that time he had seemed like a jovial man. His lightheartedness must have been dampened by the seriousness of the mission. Elphias reached out for the mother's hand while James held tight to the father's shoulders. Unlike James, Lily was still relatively new to side-along apparition, but she could do this. She didn't have a choice.

"When I say 'go', the shields will drop, and we'll apparate right after." Elphias explained as another rash of sparks hit the front window sending shards of class into the air. The mother screamed and her children reached desperately for her. Harrington and Lily struggled against their charges as Elphias prepared to drop the anti-apparition wards inside the house. Glass shook from his robe as he waved his wand in a series of meticulous turns, still holding the mother tightly against him. A second later he yelled, "go" over the sounds of screaming, crying and the sudden cracking of wooden beams. They dissaparated as the ceiling crashed down.

Then there was sudden silence.

The woods were deafeningly quiet, it took several breaths before the ringing in Lily's ears stopped, before she could detect the soft rustle of the forest. She waited for more familiar forest sounds but the birds must have been asleep and the furry creatures who would normally be moving around had scattered at the sound of apparation. The silent forest was eerie in the chilly march air.

"Follow." Elphias whispered, beginning his walk down a barely marked path toward the home of Alice and Frank Longbottom. A hand reached out and the small child clinging to her neck was softly lifted away and into the arms of her mother. Lily couldn't look into the woman's eyes, there was enough fear there to shake the Earth from under her feet. James shuffled the father around himself and Lily so the family was marching between Elphias and Harrington in the front and Lily and James at the back. All four wizards kept their wands at the ready. Twigs and branches cracked under their feet and Lily watched the children cry nervously at the sounds as they hugged tightly to their parents.

The path was winding and long. Briers pricked at their robes, and logs tripped them up, but within an hour they found themselves in clearing near an old, neatly painted farmhouse. James's heart pounded nervously as they walked across the open grass to the building. It had always been like this. To him, forests, especially the Forbidden Forest, were cover, as were the tunnels of Hogwarts, but the grass between the Forest and the castle always made him nervous. Open spaces were the places where they could be caught, those were the places where they could be found out. He breathed in and slipped a hand into Lily's just to make certain she wouldn't leave him. She gently squeezed back as they all darted to the Longbottom's back door.

Alice Longbottom, her chestnut hair long and unbrushed, was at the door to greet them, a stern look on her face, "Dumbledore has authorized a portkey for fifteen minutes from now, that should scramble them off the trail." Alice ushered them hurriedly over the threshold and they fumbled into the warm house.

"Where to?" Elphias asked off the cuff, but Alice meerly shook her head, letting them know that not knowing would be the safest measure in this instance. Instead they quickly went through the ritual of checking to make sure everyone was who they said they were.

When they were done Elphias steered the family into the cozy living room and Alice mumbled to James and Lily, "Frank's out, auror shift tonight." as they followed behind.

The family huddled by the Longbottom's couch, staring wide-eyed at the family photos around the room where parents, aunts, and cousins chatted and moved freely from frame to frame.

"What should we tell them?" James wondered aloud.

"We should disclose everything." Lily sighed.

Alice crossed her arms trying to close in some warmth, "war time or not, the Statute of Secrecy stands." She reminded. If her auror training taught her nothing else, it was that.

"No one will know but us." Lily countered, but Alice only shrugged.

"Their house was attacked by a dozen wizards." James reminded. "At this point they know about us. Who's going to fault us for contextualizing?"  
"Richard Rochester for starters." Alice ground out, referencing the head of the Auror department, but her eyes said she agreed with them. "You should do it Lily, you've got some experience with non-magic folk." Alice jerked her head in the family's direction and Lily followed the movement with her eyes.

It would be a hard thing to explain, the world being torn apart and not having any say in it.

Lily stuffed her cold hands into her pockets and walked over to the coffee table. "You all should sit for a moment" she said kindly. She cleared a few old Daily Profits from the coffee table as the family settled themselves onto the paisley cushions. She dropped herself onto the coffee table and waited for words to come to her. She wondered if she should reach out to touch the family's knees to comfort them, or stay back. They remained shivering and unsure and she stayed put.

"I know this is scary." Lily began quietly. "And I know it's confusing." She tried to dredge up memories of her life before knowing about magic. It was too long ago, long before she had met Severus, gone to Hogwarts, or joined the Order of the Phoenix, but it was there. Should she rip off the bandaid or explain magic gently? She remembered a flower petal opening and closing and slowly an idea came to her. She reached to her side, to the discarded Daily Profits and tore the cover off one, Avery's smiling face leered at her under the headline "Avery acquitted of Death Eater Charges: is set free." She sighed and held the paper flat in her hand.

"Magic can be really scary. There's a lot of power inherent in it, and some people choose to do horrible things with that power…but just like with muggles- I mean non-magical folk- there're good witches and wizards too." She pulled out her wand and whispered a spell as she tapped the sheet of paper. It folded and crinkled. The father held his child tighter, nervous of what was happening, but the paper's movements were slow and intricate, the black ink was soaking into the paper delicately. There was nothing to fear. When the spell finished Lily held a soft white rose in the palm of her hand. "We're here to protect you." Lily said quietly holding the flower out for the mother to take in trembling hands, "We're here to protect you from those who want to hurt you…" for no other reason than you're not magical. Lily added sadly to herself.

"You two should head out. I think we've got this covered. The portkey will leave soon anyway." Alice told them

Lily could feel James perk up beside her, "Alright. Let us know if you need anything."

"Of course…Now where's Elphias?"

Lily turned, expecting to see the Order member and the auror standing off to the side, but there was no sign of them.

"Elphias?" Alice called in confusion. Lily and James didn't move toward the door. The house was quiet but the floorboards creaked as Alice took a few steps toward the hall. Lily rose to her feet and found herself gripping her wand a little tighter. Surely they had just slipped out for a chat, or perhaps they needed to contact Dumbledore. She shot James a questioning look and he too turned to look around the house.

Another floorboard creaked under Alice's feet. She ducked her head into the kitchen, and cursed. Lily's wand arm shot to a defensive position, and her other was suddenly held out unconsciously, to protect the family.

"Alice what's going on?"

"Elphias was stunned." Alice answered, far too calmly. Alice returned to James and Lily and asked, "Where's Harrington?"

There was a heartbeat of a moment before the question was answered, "Right here." Harrington was behind them in the living room.

Lily spun on her heal just in time to hear the youngest child's blood curdling scream. She was thrashing and wailing against Harrington's grip. The mother moved to tackle Harrington but was taken down with nothing more than a stun to the forehead. She crumpled into a heap at Harrington's feet. Lily looked at the auror's face, expecting a curled smile, some indication that he had won, but his face was set in a determined stone stare.

"Drop her." James demanded. There was no way Harrington, though a trained auror, could beat three of them. They were going to fight.

"I'll kill her first." Harrington corrected pressing his wand into the child's neck.

The father of the family pulled his other child into his arms and tumbled behind Lily.

"I need them." Harrington repeated, "as examples."

"Examples of what!?" Alice's voice demanded attention. She stepped further to his right, expanding the area he would have to cover to keep track of the three of them. James began a slow walk to his left. Harrington would be fully surrounded in a few steps.

"Stop moving!" He flustered. Sparks snapped on the child's fair skin, and Lily could see red marks appears across her tear stained cheeks.

"James stop." Lily begged. The footsteps on the loose floorboards beside her stopped abruptly. She couldn't see him but she suspected James was silently arguing with her. Nonetheless she knew wouldn't do anything to harm the child.

"Harrington." Alice's voice was dangerous.

"Let me take them Alice. You know as well as I: One spell and the kid'll be dead."

"Harrington she's dead if you take her!"

Harrington blinked slowly, like he was fighting back a headache, and Alice didn't wait another second, but took a gamble and struck out against him. Harrington's wand moved to block the simple curse, but James attacked in that moment with a forceful stun. Harrington and the child both tumbled to the ground. Lily flew to the child and pulled her from the man's loose grip. She was still very much conscious.

"Lily, the portkey!" Alice tossed a set of muggle keys in the air. Lily fumbled with the projectile then dropped them into the still-stunned mother's hand.

"Come here." She instructed the fear-frozen father, "Everyone touch the keys."

"Wha—" The father began to ask, but he didn't have a chance to finish. Lily had taken his hand and that of the second child and forced them onto the portkey. She swung the young girl around so her finger was similarly laced around the object. A moment later Lily felt a tingle in the air and knew they were about to leave. She just caught the father's fearful eyes before she threw herself backward away from the portkeyeing family. All four disappeared safely.

"Alice what was that?" Lily's voice wavered on the words, confusion ruffled her.

"I don't know." Alice walked the length of the room to help Lily to her feet, "but I'll handle it. I'm sure you both have places to be."

"No Alice. We can't leave you here with-" Lily motioned at the unconscious auror on the floor.

"Lily- The guys are expecting us." James reminded quietly. Lily knew visits with them had been few and far between for James in the last few weeks. She released a heavy sigh and nodded to her fiancé.

"Okay…Alice are you sure you're okay with him?"

Alice was just about to answer when they heard a loud groan from the kitchen. "We'll be fine." Alice affirmed. "I'll see you both later."

"See you then."

As soon as their feet were over the threshold Lily sucked in the night air. James came up behind her and wrapped a warm arm around her shoulder. "You amaze me." Lily moaned and turned her head to bury it in James's side. He turned and enveloped her in a hug long enough for Lily to be reminded that there may be a light at the end of the long dark tunnel.

"Okay." She breathed into his arm. "Okay." He leaned back to hold her at arms length and looked her in the eyes.

"Okay."

Lily wiped away the threat of tears and asked over the suddenly overwhelming night sounds of crickets and birds, "Where was the gang going to meet us?"

"Hogs Head, but we should get going."

* * *

"And so I had my wand at his throat and he says 'fancy a drink?'… Idiot, so I blasted him into next week. Now he's in Azkaban." Sirius hiccuped jovially at the end of his story but across the table Peter's attention was still on a stack of papers. "Hey pay attention to me." Sirius slurred. He reached across the table and poked the blond tuft of hair atop Peter's head. "Hey, hey, hey-" he continued until the front door of the Hog's Head creaked open. Both young men snapped their attention to the door, but were immediately relieve at the sight of Lily and James pulling their hoods off.

Sirius broke into a wide smile. "Oi over here!" He beckoned unnecessarily, "Two more butterbeers, Abe" Sirius ordered. Lily and James smiled thanks at the innkeeper and slipped over to join the others at their booth. James fell into the seat next to Sirius and Lily sat down across from him, weary but still graceful. "What took you so long? Peter's been ignoring me all night and Remus is dead to the world." Sirius jerked his thumb at the pile of rags on his right. Remus was curled up against the wall and snoring slightly.

"I haven't been." Peter protested still not looking up.

"He hasn't been, but he's been doing paperwork all night-"

"It's important Ministry of Health stu-"

"Is not!

Peter finally raised his head, "I have to get it done. I've been out with Mundungus every night this week-"

"Why did you leave me here alone with him James?" Sirius demanded.

"We got hung up with Order business, as always." James smirked before Peter had a chance to retort.

"Ignore him, James. Sirius is just upset that his stakeout yielded nothing." Peter pointed out.

"Nothing?" Lily was surprised, "The Lestrange's place was supposed to be a hotbed tonight."

"Either their security has gotten better since our last break-in or their meeting place moved." Sirius said dryly, dropping his argument with Peter. "Fabian and Gideon took over about a half hour ago, but I don't think they'll get much either."

"Maybe not, but there's always hope." James sighed.

"I was hoping to catch sight of Crier." Sirius moaned. What they all wanted was more information about the man. Anything at all, his whereabouts, his plan, his loyalty and more importantly why had the Death Eaters gone through so much trouble to break him out of Azkaban four months ago.

"Face it Sirius, no one has seen him since the breakout, if he is still alive he's deep undercover, or missing." Lily grumbled.

"Lily he's the key, 'Crier is the key.' How many times did we hear that last year, we can't just give up on him, especially when we know their final goal is the ministry!"

"Sirius! I know how important this is. I also know that until we get more information our efforts should be on keeping people safe. Four people have been murdered just this week, two of them by people who had been imperioused. I think we have a bigger problem than one missing Death Eater."

"Guys." James intervened before the old argument could be replayed. "Both are important. We can't keep dealing with the symptoms," He directed at Lily, but before Sirius could get a smug smile plastered on his face James turned to him, "but we can't focus all of our efforts on the root problem when there are lives at stake." Sirius face sunk. "Anyway we weren't getting together to discuss work, we're here to relax, so relax." James insisted, in possibly the most stressed out tone in which anyone could speak those words.

Lily choked back a response and turned her attention to Remus, "Is he okay?" She asked Sirius and Peter.

Peter waved a dismissive hand and Sirius grumbled, "He's sleeping off Moody's last mission. Lucky bastard's always away on important Moody missions." Sirius tone was touched with jealousy, but from the look of the dark circles under Remus's eyes she wasn't sure she understood why.

"Should we order him some food?" She wondered.

"Nah. He's tired more than anything, and there's cold pizza back at your place." Sirius reminded.

It took Lily a second to smother her worry but she managed to look away from Remus and back to the table, "So anything fun happen lately?" She asked, trying to lighten the conversation.

To her dismay Sirius was the first to answer her question, "I went on a date the other day!"

"Ah yes, the latest in your long line of women. Still trying to wash the taste of Death Eater out of your mouth?"

"Oh, Lily you wound me!" Sirius faked insult and covered his heart before conintuing, "For your information I've always run through women at a dashing speed." James and Peter nodded in agreement without saying a word or meeting Lily's eyes. "So this clearly has nothing to do with Crier's demonic daughter."

Lily rolled her eyes, "Do you even remember this one's name?" She couldn't help but ask.

"I'll have you know her name was Mouriah." Lily stared at him waiting for the other shoe to drop and Sirius didn't disappoint, "Which is why I had to sneak out a bathroom window halfway through appetizers."

"For her name?" Lily bit.

"Her name was Mouriah. If that's not a bad omen I don't know what is."

"So?" Lily persisted.

Three surprised looks followed. After a beat the three conscious Marauders quoted, "Mouriah with the two faces." They all did the same loose motion with their right hand that mimicked moving a mask off to the side.

Lily unconsciously looked to Remus who usually at least understood her confusion, even if he didn't always share it. Often he was quick to explain wizard terms to her but his calming eyes remained stubbornly closed.

"Okay, whatever, you dumped a girl because of her name, what else is new in the petty world of Sirius Black?"

"Actually I was thinking of changing my name to Sirius Orion Potter, you know at your wedding. You get to change your name. I thought I would as- ouch." Lily had kicked him under the table and the others were now snickering.

"Peter, give me something here." Lily groaned. "I now need to wash both the evening and Sirius's conversation topics out of my head."

Peter fished around for something to say, fluttering over a few thoughts and quickly dismissing them until he shrugged and slumped back into the booth seat. He dropped the quill he had been holding, officially giving up on getting work done.

The group of four looked at each other searching for a discussion topic that wasn't Order related. Lily struggled then plucked an almost neutral topic from the air. The closest thing to a not work related conversation she could come up with, "Any word from Hagrid about the giants?"

"That's Order adjacent." Peter pointed out.

Lily rocked her hand back and forth, half protesting his assessment.

"Hagrid going north isn't Order business. He's just visiting family?" Sirius mocked over Lily's quiet protest, "Lily this isn't a vacation for him." Sirius snapped and next to him Remus groaned.

Lily's eyes creased in surprise at the annoyed tone in his voice. "I know that. When's he supposed to get back?" She asked, "Maybe we could visit him out at Hogwarts. Have tea?"

"Dunno." Sirius grumbled.

"Padfoot." James scolded, "at least try to be civil."

"I'm being civil!" Sirius insisted.

"Sirius." Remus's croaking voice stopped his friend from further argument. Peter sat up a little straighter with and the frown line in his brow deepened.

"Sorry Moony. Go back to sleep." Sirius apologized.

Remus didn't heed Sirius's suggestion but slowly sat up. Lily was shaken to see he was swimming in his thin brown robes. Since leaving Hogwarts his face had become thin, but now he was also scruffy and unshaven.

"Well then. Good morning sunshine, would you like a butterbeer?"

Remus grumbled "no" at the offer and before they could think to order him a tea Aberforth appeared at the table holding two crusty butterbeers. He placed one each before Lily and James, didn't say anything else then wandered back off behind the counter.

"Friendly guy isn't he." Peter chimed in trying desperately to make a joke to break the tension.

"I'm sorry, Lily." Sirius finally said, backtracking in the conversation. Lily appreciated it though. He began worrying the label off his own bottle of butterbeer and Lily knew she couldn't stay mad. Instead she gave him an unimpressed look. Sirius was as stressed as the rest of them, but for him it usually manifested in reckless behavior and misjudged pranking. It was less likely for her to see him so openly angry or frustrated. She could tell she was stressed in the way she kept arguing with him. She loved Sirius, via James who she knew couldn't live without him, but she found him receiving the brunt of her disproval, and he didn't deserve it.

"It's fine Sirius. Chalk it up to stress." Lily said, letting him off the hook for his outburst.

Sirius flicked his drink from one hand to the other and visibly pushed back whatever was turning his mind into a stormy sea. Another silence swept the table until Peter found he couldn't help but ask, "I'm sorry I have to know, what kept you both?"

James glowered into his drink as Lily wearily answered, "Harrington was working the other side, we had to take him down once we reached the safe house."

"Shit." Sirius coughed up. "What'll happen to him?"

"Dunno. Alice and Elphias will probably take him to the Ministry, they let us go so we could catch up with you two."

"Wow, that's terrible." Peter frowned, "I guess we can never be certain about who someone is."

"Not in this world of imperioused fruit vendors and Auror impersonators." James mumbled.

"I can be certain about you all." Sirius snapped in opposition. Four heads turned in his direction. "What? I can." Then with a cheeky smile he added, "I know who you are." He leaned arrogantly back in his chair and pointed in a circle. "A terrifying duelist and walking encyclopedia."

"Werewolf." Remus corrected under his breath.

"Ministry Suck-up, but hopelessly loyal." Sirius kicked Peter under the table who looked up from his paperwork long enough to roll his eyes.

"And what's the phrase you use for Lily, James?"

"The thing I love most in the world?" James suggested.

"Ah right, Lily is the thing James loves second-most in the world."

"After you?" Lily raised and amused eyebrow.

"After me." Sirius confirmed receiving a whack in the chest from James before continuing, "and James of course is the best man in the world." Sirius smirked, but before anyone could must the energy to dispute him he continued, "And speaking of best a man… did you two decide about the reception music?"

"You're DJing." James said, but at the same time Lily was protesting,

"Nonononono."

"He has to DJ." James cried overtop of Lily's wails.

"Lily calm down, I'm a fantastic DJ!" Sirius soothed.

"He is good." Peter called over the noise.

"I don't want to listen to the Jack-o-Lanterns and Hungry Skeletons all night." Lily whined.

"You won't- I promise to play one Celestina Warbeck song an hour."

"No."

Sirius fake pouted, but Lily stayed resolute, "I would rather listen to the Lovegood's bongo music."

"I could make that work." Sirius considered.

"Sirius! This is -" Lily cut herself off before she could say "serious" and completely upend the conversation. She was too late though, James and Sirius were already sharing a conspiratorial stare, and snickering into their drinks.

As soon as he regained his composure James explained, "Problem is Lily I already told him he could." He smiled innocently from Sirius's side and Lily let out an exasperated, but amused breath.

"Always the same with you two."

"Always." Sirius toasted, "Now drink up, we need to head back home before curfew." he reminded. "With you two being late we're already cutting it close."

Lily sighed and glanced out the window to the darkened streets. When she thought about it of course she knew who she was, and who the others at the table were, but this war was proving long and hard, and she worried about how much longer they would really be themselves. The world was changing, and them with it, she could only hope it would be for the better.


	2. Chapter 2: The Plan

March came to an end in much the same way it had arrived, cold and rainy. Remus and James celebrated their March birthdays hundreds of miles away from one another, beer in hand and preoccupied with work. Peter fought with piles of Ministry paperwork and his Order duties, while Sirius fought with everything. Still when the war looked to be at its worst and Order Members were showing up at meetings beaten and tired he did his best to keep moral up with jokes and dumb games. Throughout it all Lily and James furiously finalized their wedding plans. They did everything to keep the final details as secret as possible while still being able to tell invitees that the date was April 24th.

The wedding was three weeks away, and they all knew anything could go wrong before that date.

"I still think we should just get it over with. No fuss, just slip into the ministry, file the paperwork and call it." Lily said for the twentieth time.

"Lily. I get one excuse a month to drink. You are getting married with pomp and circumstance, and then we're partying." Sirius growled around James as they knocked off their mud covered boots outside the Order's hidden warehouse.

"Not having an occasion doesn't seem to stop you from drinking." Lily snapped back.

"Okay Lily, I actually think it would be good for us to celebrate, this is an exciting thing." James tried to reason. He pulled on a smile and gave Lily a half hug. She leaned into him, hugging him back, but it did little to abate her worry.

"I'm just scared, sorry." Lily scraped mud off the side of her boot with the edge of the concrete and then continued, "Having that many Order people off duty and in one place is a littler nerve wracking. If one thing goes wrong-"

"Nothing is going to go wrong." Sirius wailed, relighting the argument James had almost doused.

"Nothing is going to go wrong." James repeated in a much softer voice. He kissed the top of Lily's head and steered her gently through the warehouse door and out of the rain, Sirius grumbling on their heals.

The place was already buzzing with activity. The members of the Order of the Phoenix were unusually chatty. Voices quipped over the long tables and James heard plans that would often be considered nonsense tossed out for pure entertainment. There was a tentative air of joy bouncing off the cement bricks. James found himself at first bemused, then smiling. As he looked around he saw that even Moody, usually the first to crush a silly idea had smirked when Fabian suggested, with a sidelong glance at Professor Mcgonagall, that they should discretely install a cat-door on the Minister's door. People were in high spirits. James saw that the the Prewetts had brought a few new spy toys to try out, and with the help of Emmeline were modeling their usefulness to a cackling Mundungus. Dedalus had brought a few drinks and Melinda's daughter had sent cookies along. At their usual table Remus and Peter were laughing over a mapping project they were working on with Hestia Jones.

A few new members of the Order had added volume to the collection of folks milling about. A month ago the marauders (and Mundungus) had been more than a little annoyed to learn that, without argument, Dumbledore and Moody had allowed the instatement of two seventh-year Hogwarts students to their ranks. The two young witches were not only needed, but they were talented and, as Sirius pointed out, not too hard on the eyes.

James continued to search for the cause of the high spirits until his eyes landed on a man seated at the long central table, Benjy Fenwick.

"No way! Benjy Fenwick!" Sirius was already making a beeline for the returned member, throwing his hands in the air, and smiling ear-to-ear.

Benjy turned his attention from a relatively low key conversation with Elphias to return Sirius's cheer. A lopsided smile brightened his thinned face. At 30-something you could tell he had once been built like a wall, but during a rough six months he had been wheedled away to a thin waif of his former self. James held Lily's hand as they made their way over to him.

"The M-" Benjy seemed to stall out on the word, but James didn't care, it was the first time he had heard the man speak at all in five months, and he could take as much time as he needed, "The Mmmmarauders. have arrived." He managed a delighted grin as he finish his sentence in a strange staccato fashion. Benjy had been held up in the Bones's house since being poisoned by an unnamed St. Mungos employee the previous fall. Outside of the Bones's frequent updates people rarely heard from him. James had to admit, it was hard to look at what was left of such a strong man, but it was heartening to see walking and talking nonetheless. Benjy was in some way back in working order. He was at least well enough to come into public, to be at an Order meeting, and that was good news.

"Good to have you back, mate." Sirius stepped over an empty metal chair and reached out to shake Benjy's shivering hand.

When he let go Benjy rocked his unsteady hand back and forth in an uncertain gesture, "Mostly back." He tempered Sirius's optimism.

"Good to see you up and about anyway." James shrugged. He leaned into the table and pulled Lily next to him.

"Yeah, it's great to see you so much better." She added warmly.

Benjy squinted up at the pair, "I heard. About. A wedding?" He inquired slowly.

James and Lily shared an amused stare before Lily said, "We were just talking about it. April 24th, we sent your invite to the Bones's…"

"I got it. I'll…be there." He smiled. "Congra…tulations."

"Thanks."

They didn't have a chance to add any more to the conversation for with a downward motion of his hand and a grumbling clearing of his throat, Moody directed the silence of the Order. James and Lily slipped off to their usual seats next to Remus and Peter and Sirius dragged a chair over to be with them as Moody rattled through a few customary announcements.

"…And lastly welcome back to Fenwick who decided dying at the hands of some inbred cockroach at St. Mungos was beneath him." There was general cheering and across the room Benjy was ducking from his embarrassed smile. "Despite that, he won't be on the roster for another month or so, so we're still divining up the schedule same as always at the end of the meeting. Any other announcements before we get into updates?" Moody's magical eye spun around the room. There were no hands raised and Moody's attention dropped to the agenda on the table before him.

"Well then…First order of business today is somehow-" Moody looked like there must be a mistake on the paper then said cautiously "… Sirius Black." Moody's magical eye spun around until it was on Sirius who only smirked in return, "This better be good." Moody growled. Eyes in the room wandered over to Sirius, who had never presented a report on his own, but was usually standing next to James, Remus or one of the Prewetts.

He sprung to his feet and pulled a shrunken stack of paper out of his robe pocket with a flourish that left rainwater sprinkled over the nearest Order members. The papers regrew as he stepped to the front of the room.

Sirius dropped the wad of soggy parchment onto the table before him and smiled at the gathered group. Four months since the Azkaban Attack and the dusty smell of the place still made him sick, but he held it in as he addressed the Order. They, like him were still worried about the Ministry and Minister's safety, so his update would be timely, "First thing's first, I have it under good authority that our dear Minister Harold added more Dementors to Azkaban after last December's… event." Sirius peered out across the gathered group. He didn't talk much about the previous December, the marauders were all a bit guilty and they felt more than a little trapped by the fallout. Memories of the battle and its aftermath still crawled under Sirius's skin and the phantom burn of the acid chalk lingered around the scar on his stomach.

No one had heard from, or about, Crier since then and the best they could do was appoint someone- grudgingly Sirius- as head of the task force gathering information about him, but nothing had come of that. "This won't affect us, except that it's bloody ridiculous that there are more of those soul sucking bastards on the government's payroll." Sirius cursed and Moody glared, motioning for him to continue, "Point is that's all we've got so far on him. We've been tailing the minster, his secretary, and his head security officer, for a month now, but nothing's come of it." Sirius paused long enough to glance around the room, "I think it's time to try a new strategy. James and I have been talking and we think we have a plan." Sirius took a deep breath. He actually looked nervous.

"Spit it out Black." Moody growled.

"Who knows everything about everybody?" James piped up to get the ball rolling.

"Potter!" Moody threatened.

"Oh no, not me sir." James joked, pretending to be taken aback by the suggestion that he could know everything about everyone.

"Hired help?" Peter answered tentatively, a questioning look lifting one pale eyebrow.

"Exactly." Sirius pointed an excited finger in Peter's direction.

Next to him Remus's eyebrows crinkled in surprise, "You weren't kidding about going to work as a janitor to get the scoop on the Minister?" The room turned in confusion on Remus, then back to Sirius.

"And his cronies." Black expanded, clearly pleased with himself.

"That's the plan?" Remus deadpanned. There was confused ruffling in the warehouse.  
"Exactly." James smiled in self-satisfaction.

"You'll last a day." Remus scoffed at the pair.

"Two." James haggled up.

"Doesn't matter how long they last if they can't get any useful information." Mundungus snapped out from the back of the room.

Moody waved down Mundungus's words and turned back to Sirius, "Is there even any evidence that looking through their trash-"

"And desks" Sirius added.

"And their desks, if you can break into them, will get us anywhere?"

There was brief silence.

"We're not getting anywhere now." Sirius tried, "How could this hurt?"

"You could get caught." Hestia reminded.

"Killed," Emmeline added from between two suspicious looking Prewetts.

"Your families are well known, you're wanted by Death Eaters, people will suspect you." Hestia piled on.

Sirius looked at both of the women. He had considered these points, especially about the Death Eater head hunters, but he didn't care, "Look, I've already negotiated positions for us with an anti-Voldemort sympathizer within the ministry. We'll be working night shifts. With any luck no one will notice or care that we're there. Best case scenario we catch a traitor like Harrington before they do any real damage. Worst case scenario someone notices us. Everyone thinks we're slackers anyway. Us working night shift as janitors won't surprise them." There were a few huffs of amusement, especially from their ex professor, but it didn't quiet the general nerves in the room, "We know that it's not the safest route, and it may get us nowhere, but if we're right and the final goal of Voldemort is to take down the Ministry, an extra pair of eyes snooping around isn't going to hurt." Sirius finished.

"Even when we've already got three pairs of eyes there?" Alice asked.

"You and Frank and Moody have to keep your jobs, you can't be too nosy, James and I have nothing to lose."

The Longbottoms shared a curious look, but they didn't seem completely opposed to the suggestion.

"When would you start?" Moody wondered.

"At least wait until after the wedding." Lily pleaded, "I'd like to marry James before he dies."

"Tomorrow." Sirius smiled, but at the look on Lily and James's faces he changed his answer to an agreeable, "after the wedding?"

Moody turned to the Longbottoms. A silent conversation passed around them.

"There're a few drawers I liked to look in." Frank said thoughtfully, "It's a tentative 'yes' from me."

"Same here," Alice nodded, "But be safe, and don't do anything that could get _us_ in trouble." She pointed between herself and Frank.

Sirius wanted to joke, feign insult, but this wasn't a time for jokes, not with the Order staring accusingly at him. So with most of the strength in him he nodded solemnly to the agreement. He turned his attention, slowly, hopefully toward Moody.

The old auror eyed him up and down, calculated and finally relented, "I think it's worth trying."

Sirius couldn't hold it in anymore. He pounded a celebratory fist into the air.

"Is there general agreement from the rest of the group." Moody clarified, via an unwritten protocol. Sirius beamed around the room, but he knew that if Moody approved of something, and it had already been discussed, it was as good as approved. There were murmurs of approval, and Sirius sat back down with delight.

April rolled on without too many surprises, but while Remus, Sirius, James and Lily dug deeper into Order issues, Peter found himself burying himself under larger and larger piles of work from the Ministry of Health. He didn't admit it to himself out loud, but somewhere in the back of his mind the thought tickled at him that he was doing it just to avoid Order missions and stakeouts. Unlike the others he needed more time away from the Order. More time to sort out the events of the last few months.

It wasn't only the battle at Azkaban, or Sirius's close call with death. It was the aftermath. The picture his mother had slid across the table at him, and the words, "we're survivors" that she kept repeating.

He hadn't told the others about the picture of his father, or the obituary he found a few months later in the health records at The Ministry. His real father had been dead for two months by the time his mother had slid the picture across the table to him. She had been going on about Peter needing to talk to his father for about six months before that. He kept going over the possibility that if he had just listened to her- truly listened- he might have met a man more like him than the man who raised him had ever been. He could have met the man who made his mother actually smile. He kept the picture his mother had shown him folded up in his back pocket. It was a haunting image now, it showed the ghost of what could have been- poverty, sure, but happiness too? He would never know. But as his mother told him over and over, she had picked survival. She had chosen to give him a life of decent meals and a good education. Peter couldn't fault her for that. In fact he admired it. He loved his father, the one who raised him, and wouldn't give up his childhood for anything.

Still he wasn't sure how the others would take it, or if he even wanted that part of himself to be shared. He didn't know why. The other's had their fair share of odd feelings related to their parents, but he needed to digest the information for himself, without Sirius's melancholy about blood relatives or James's naive optimism.

More importantly he needed to digest the word "survivor", because he definitely didn't feel like he was heading down the road to a long and happy life on the path he was on, and he knew how that conversation with the others' ended. Shut down, ignored, and berated for not wanting to fight against Voldemort. It wasn't that he didn't want to fight, it was that maybe, deep inside him, he knew he wanted to live more. He kept this secret locked up so tight inside himself that he wasn't sure he had even admitted it to himself. But every day he would find himself pulling out the picture of his mother and wondering what it was that she had given up to live well, and what he would be willing to give up to live. Some days it was easy to say he could give up fighting in the war to save himself, but on other days it was almost impossible. James and Sirius's reasons were always related to bravado, to protect the innocent and fight evil, but Remus's reasons were more subtle and honest, he would die under Voldemort's rule. Neither reason Peter could relate to.

But Peter didn't have time to ponder any of that at the moment. Remus was in his family's kitchen holding up a skewered black char and asking him, "Is this still edible?" through a lungful of smoke. They had just put out a large fire resulting from another of Remus's botched attempts at a meal and now they were eyeing the results wearily.

"Well it was on fire a second ago…" Peter coughed out. He could just see his friend through the smoke rising off the range, "Listen, you are getting better at this, but perhaps this was just a bit too ambitious for someone who barely passed their Potions NEWTs the second time around."

"Shut up." Remus scraped the charred meat back into the skillet and set the utensil aside with a groan.

Peter sighed and stared at the crispy chicken left in the pan, wondering if any bit of it were salvageable. He came to the quick conclusion that it wasn't, "maybe we should order out tonight?"

"Go for it, but I just spent the last of my money on that dinner so…" Remus looked at it sorrowfully, "I've eaten worse." He picked the pan off the range and tried to scraped the charred remains off the surface of the chicken.

"I'll buy." Peter grabbed the handle of the pan out of Remus's grip and did a quick "evanesco" to clean the old food from the skillet, "How's pizza sound?"

"Fine." Remus tried to hide his relief, but Peter could see him brighten considerably at the suggestion of edible food.

"You wanna clean up a bit while I run into town to get it?" Peter asked.

Remus gave another weary look at the mutilated pan, "Sure." He agreed tentatively. Remus began cleaning as Peter stepped out of the house.

He returned barely a half hour later with a large pizza held under his arm, "Dinner!" He called happily. Remus had done his job well, made the kitchen sparkling, then taken up residency at one of the dining room's elegant chairs. Peter walked in on him pouring through a heavy book on ancient defensive spells. Peter dropped the box in front of his friend and went into the kitchen for plates. Remus lifted the lid of the box and smiled, all of his favorite toppings were sitting piled over a rich layer of cheese and tomato sauce.

"You got pepperoni and olives." Remus called back to Peter. The other boy came back into the dining room with two plates, forks and a stack of napkins. "Course I did, it's your favorite."

"You hate olives."

Peter shrugged, "I can pick them off, you deserve decent food at least once a week." Peter didn't say it, but Remus hadn't put on any weight since getting back from his last mission with with the werewolves and they were all starting to worry about his thin frame.

Remus smiled hungrily as he pulled a stringy, cheesy slice from the pizza and took a bite, "This is amazing. Sirius is right about takeout."

"Sometimes he's right about takeout." Peter corrected remembering a fiasco with spicy Chinese food a month ago. Pizza was usually safe though. Peter shrugged and cut away of piece of his pizza with a fork. He ate another three bites before he gained the courage to strike up the conversation he had been meaning to have for a few months, "Can I tell you something?" He began timidly.

"Yeah, Pete you can tell me anything." Remus reminded. Remus didn't look up to notice the serious nature of Peter's question, but when his friend didn't speak for several seconds Remus caught his eye and immediately set his pizza back down.

Peter wracked his brain looking for the right way to say what he wanted to convey to Remus, but when it came down to it the best he could offer was the truth, "Rem. My dad isn't my dad." He tried.

Remus chewed over the phrase, "Your Dad isn't your dad." He repeated back.

Peter took a breath and rubbed his suddenly sweating hands on his jeaned legs, "I found out a few months ago, my mom showed me this picture of well… of my biological father."

Remus stared for a moment trying to come up with words.

"I have the picture." Peter said. He fished in his back pocket until he brought out the browning photograph. Remus took the creased picture and stared at it. His attention bounced back and forth between Peter and the man in the picture a few times, then same realization that had hit Peter, hit him, "Wow Peter that's insane, what did… I mean why? What happened?"

"I dunno exactly… You know how my mom is fuzzy on details, but this guy was definitely my father… I mean you knew my dad, we were nothing alike. This man looks so much like me."

"But who was he?-"

"Just some guy, I guess, but when my mom was talking about him, Remus you should have seen her smile, I've never seen her smile like that." Peter could feel himself almost grin at the memory of her eyes on that picture, but then the stunning reality of the situation hit him again and he sobered, "He was poor though." he continued sadly, "and Mom didn't think they could raise me together so she married my-" Peter looked confused by the wording for the first time, "My dad, dad, you know?"

"She didn't want to raise you poor?" Peter could see the struggle in Remus's face. He had never had much money, he understood more than any of them what position Peter's mom might have been in, but Peter knew that Remus also valued love and loyalty. The two ideals were clearly battling for space in Remus's mind.

"I know she probably made the right decision." Peter interjected before Remus had to say anything about the value of money and love, "She said she wanted to survive."

Remus nodded.

"It's just that all these possibilities are out there, and I can't help but wonder how things could have been different, you know?" Peter took the picture back from Remus and ran his finger over corner.

Remus nodded again. There was silence while Remus worked out the right words to say, "I'm happy they turned out the way they did." Peter looked up to meet Remus's eyes and he knew he meant their friendship. He was happy that they had become friends.

"But it is strange." Peter pointed out.

"Very strange." Remus agreed, "Why didn't you tell us?"

Peter shrugged, the truth was long, he wasn't sure he could articulate it yet. Remus didn't press the issue, there were plenty of secrets he had kept until the last minute, "I'll grab beers?" Remus said instead, rising form his chair and heading to the kitchen.

An hour later, out of beer and tired from their conversations they decided they needed to call it a night.

Lily and I are finishing up packing everything up tonight, you're welcome to join us." Remus said quietly at Peter's front door.

"Nah, it's alright, you two should enjoy each other."

"You hate packing?"

"I hate packing." Peter said almost on top of Remus's question.

Remus smirked, "See you later, and floo if you need to talk. No need to bottle it up and turn in to Sirius, mate."

Peter leaned into the doorframe. He didn't answer but nodded earnestly. Remus patted him on the shoulder and headed into the front yard to apparate away.

"I'm glad you're back for the wedding." Lily admitted from inside a ring of boxes in the living room later that night.

"I'm not sure Moody would have survived Sirius and James's rage if I was gone for it." Across the room and behind an island counter Remus Lupin was trying to sort out their dishes.

"True." Lily laughed thinking about Sirius's sudden overprotective nature when it came to Remus, "Sirius is pissed off everytime you have to leave."

"And? So are you, you just pretend to hide it better."

"I do not. I know what you're doing is for the Order."

"But…" Remus prompted."

Lily rolled her eyes but obliged Remus his request. "But I just wish he would send you with a box of food and your wand." Remus shrugged, after leaving his wand behind the first time two times he was becoming used to it, like a phantom limb he would find himself expecting it to be there, almost feeling it strapped to his arm under his robes, but after a few days he would learn to live with the sudden handicap, and every time he came home it was handed back to him in exactly the same condition he had left it.

"I know. I wish that too, but the werewolves out there would get suspsicious, and I'm supposed to appear as one of them."

Lily mocked the related line under her breath "appear as one of them", but she understood the necessity for Remus's work, "Doesn't mean we have to like it." She defended herself and, surprisingly, Sirius.

"Definitely don't have to like it." Remus agreed.

"So when are you going up to see your Dad? I mean it's been like eight months now?" Lily dropped a book, a map, and another old Gryffindor scarf into a box at her feet. Remus held up a particularly tacky plate with a picture of a chicken across the front and a chip in the side.

"Mine" Lily replied to the unanswered question then squinted. "You can keep it."

Remus laughed under his breath knowing the Potters had loaded her and James down with fancy new china. They would be appalled by this plate, though Lupin vaguely remembered that the chicken on this plate had clucked at one point, and James had found it more than entertaining. He stuck the plate back in one of the low hanging wooden cabinets.

"So." Lily pressed wearily.

"I know, I should. It's dangerous though. I'm just- " Remus sighed, and Lily understood where he was trying to go with his babbling. There were victims of association in the world and Remus could be outed as an adamant supporter of Dumbledore at any time. Remus wouldn't want to put his father in more of a dangerous position, now that his mother was gone. She looked solemnly over at him, the gears in her head turning.

"You could just go to the pub, like you're grabbing a drink and sneak off, or something. We can figure something out. No one needs to know who you're visiting, or where." Remus knew there was a work-around, but he didn't know if he was avoiding his father because of a fear of losing him too, or fear of something deeper, a fear of having already lost him? Remus shrugged and began wiping off the few dishes Lily had decided to take with her.

"Until then." Lily added with a sigh "what's the plan?"

Remus set down a stack of small blue plates and came around the counter and into what they'd set up as the living room. There were several boxes scattered across the floor, each with a different piece of her life in it. They both stared around until their eyes landed on the bottle of cheap liquor sitting next to a fine bottle of wine Lily didn't remember having around the house. Remus reached out and picked the bottles "Alcoholism is it?" Lily quipped.

"Yes, that was plan A." Remus answered. He shook the bottle of liquor he had been sipping at all evening.

"Gross." Lily winced shooting him a look.

"What!" He replied with a marauders' cheeky smile, "I got this for you."

"Yeah and you've been drinking out of them all night." She replied uninterestedly.

"No, I got the wine for you-" He insisted holding out the bottle of surprisingly good wine, "as a happy getting married and moving out present." He explained. Lily took it tentatively from his hand and flipped the bottle over seeing it was her favorite brand. She didn't ask how Remus had afforded it. He didn't deserve her scrutiny, especially on a night like this. If he wanted to spend his meager money on her, she had to let that be his problem, at least this once.

"Fair enough." She replied then picked up her wand where she had discarded it on the couch, and used it to open the bottle.

She looked around for a moment before Remus acquiesced to her silent request. "I'll go see if I can dig out some glasses."

"Fantastic." She replied. Remus stepped clumsily over boxes and began rummaging through the kitchen. Slowly and with a heavy weariness Lily turned back to a pile of books she was slowly setting into boxes. Remus retuned to the room with two glasses then pointed at the last book she had set onto her pile with an accusing glare.

"That one's not yours." He stated.

"What do you mean it's not mine?"

"I mean James got us both Quidditch history books in third year, but yours had a divinely written love note on the inside cover and a heart on the top right corner of the cover." He replied.

Lily raised an eyebrow. "No it didn't."

"Yes, it did, honestly, I'm surprised you even kept the book. Not surprised you never opened it, but, you know. Whatever"

Lily looked back over to the bookshelf where she now saw another copy of "Quidditch: Then and Now" sitting. Its binding was still in pristine condition. She stepped over a few boxes and pulled it off the shelf.

There was in fact a heart on the top right corner, as Remus had mentioned and when she flipped it open, apparently for the first time, there was a ridiculous love letter on the front cover.

She couldn't help but giggle at James' thirteen-year-old lust. "I love you like Peter loves Strawberry flavored Berti botts." She quoted off the page.

"The man's a poet, what can I say? Though I think Sirius might have written that particular line." Remus picked a few more books off the pile Lily had taken off the shelf and added to her boxes. He slowly began tossing his books back onto the couch that was, most definitely, staying in the apartment with him.

"Hey." Lily exclaimed after switching out his _Quidditch: Then and Now_ for her own.

"Hey what? These are mine." He accused.

"Are not."

"Well this one is." He said holding up a thick paperback fantasy book.

Lily paused for a moment before mumbling "maybe."

She looked sheepish for a half second then grabbed the book out of his hand. The front cover was a beautiful forest scene. Somewhere to the right you could see the cloudy mists of dark creatures and to the right there was just a hint that there were good guys hiding in the shadows.

Remus looked at her, surprised for a second then dropped whatever comment was coming to his lips. He had seen her read that particular adventure book more times in the last year than he himself had so much as picked it up. Instead he ran his hand through his tangled hair, an action he suspected he had accidentally picked up from Lily's fiancé, though he did it with much less grace. He didn't argue when Lily smiled and set the book gingerly on top of a cauldron she had packed away earlier.

"I'm taking the potions books too." Lily insisted.

"Leave the Defense books and we'll call it even." Remus countered.

"James'll want the transfigurations books…"

"He has his own set and you can't have the one he got me in sixth year- that 'Transfiguration for the Fearsome'."

"I'm taking Hilda Hollingsworth's History of Beasts, I don't need you reading that alone in your apartment."

"Lils-"

"Remy-" They stared down one another until the corners of their mouths turned up in amusement.

Remus shook his head and turned to fill the two glasses he had brought over with fresh wine.

When they were filled enough to start them on a moving-out-night-drunkenness he handed one over to Lily and held his own up for a toast. "To the future Mrs. Toerag."

Lily smiled good-naturedly then retorted "and to you, Remus Lupin, may you enjoy all the nights I force Sirius to sleep in your spare bedroom instead of James's and I's."

"Toerag." Remus reiterated.

They clinked glasses together and each took a long drink. It took a few moments but slowly they began looking around at all the boxes and bags that were slowly filling with Lily's possessions. Their eyes finally rested on her three full boxes of books. They were mostly school course books and a few novels. Some of them were research books given to her by the Order to look into one thing or the other. One was a book on dark creatures Remus had given to her in a panic after she had found out. Inside was still a note scrawled on tattered paper saying "it's not all what it appears".

Their eyes drifted to the bookshelf she was abandoning. There, unlike in her own stash of books, was a plethora of brilliant pieces. They were scattered among the course books where marauders' handwriting littered the margins and covers, but they were there in spades nonetheless. Most were marauder book gifts, while one was from Dumbledore himself. There were some joke books, novels from his mother and father, instruction manuals for unspeakable things, a hymnal, and a condescending pamphlet from The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures that had been horribly, and rightfully, defaced by Sirius.

"So you get to keep all the good books?" Lily asked, knowing she would lose if she tried to take them. Remus nodded.

"You can visit them anytime." He noted. "They'll miss you when you're gone."

"Will they?" She asked now looking with her piercing green eyes at Remus. His lips cracked into a warm half smile, and he nodded. "Yes, who else is supposed to keep them company when the marauders are off doing important marauder business." Remus winked, thinking of full moons, but also of the times James and Sirius would disappear for days on end to track someone or something down. Lily nodded and took another sip of her drink.

She slowly turned away from her friend and looked back to the slightly sparse bookshelf that was now void of any trace that her books had ever been there. She slowly sank to the floor between the boxes and rested her back against the tattered couch.

"It looks so empty." Lily whispered, looking forlorn. With a groan, Remus slowly sat himself down on the floor next to her.

"Yeah." He agreed. They were silent for several seconds. "But now there's all this space for different books, and I promise you there is another bookshelf at James' that looks equally bare for _you_ to fill up with new books." He added thinking of the seemingly endless space in their new Godrick's hollow house.

Lily looked skeptical, and took another sip out of her glass. Remus moved his drink to his left hand and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. She scooted in closer, and they both stared at the empty spaces between his old dusty books.

"New books?" she asked quietly into his shoulder.

"Brand new books." Remus promised. "Maybe some even better than the old."


	3. Chapter 3: The Stag Party

**Chapter 3: The Stag Party**

Sirius, and even a stressed looking Peter showed up to help Lily move the remainder of her things into Godric's hollow the next morning. There was only one more day until the wedding and Lily and James were both chewing their nails for things to go well, but as they reminded themselves, they were Gryffindors, and Gryffindors shouldn't fear their own weddings. Luckily James didn't have long to fret, for by the time dinner rolled around Sirius, Remus, and Peter had already dragged him halfway around London in celebration. By nightfall there was only one place left to get kicked out of.

"Dear Prongsyyy….." Sirius held his wobbling glass up. He was barely standing next to his chair in the three broomsticks until Remus tugged him back into his seat. Sirius tumbled, sloshing half his drink onto his arm and the overburdened table.

Sirius leaned heavily on the sticky surface, still desperately trying to make a decent toast, "James, Jamsey, Jamie, Prongggsss." He repeated.

Remus and Peter were already snickering, and James slammed his hand onto the table in amusement as Sirius tried for the third time to get everyone's attention. The group was still reeling from the last joke, the last barb and now Sirius's antics, there was little hope of them containing themselves.

From behind the bar Madam Rosmerta cut in, "boys you know we close soon-"

"Prongs, I apologize that the only girl we could get to come to your stag party is the fine, but prudish Madam Rosmerddda.." Sirius slurred gesturing wildly at the amused, but insistent barkeep.

"We're under a curfew and if you don't leave soon you're going to be sleeping under the table, and I don't want to have to deal with that in the morning." She added with a raise of one perfectly plucked eyebrow.

"And we appreciate you takin' care of us Rosie, but this is, this is Jamessse's last day as a single man, you have to understand we're in mourning."  
"We're not in mourning." Remus countered, "We're celebrating me getting my own place."

"No, we're celebrating cutting the babysitting James job 50/50 with Lily." Peter chimed in.

"Only every other weekend and some holidays!" Sirius whined.

"Per the James custody agreement." Remus smirked.

Sirius flung himself back into his seat dramatically and waited for someone to cheer him up. No one came to his aid.

"It's probably more than that, you have basically been living at Godric's hollow." Remus reminded. He kicked Sirius lightly under the table and he popped back up in time to see Rosmerta swoop over to their table.

"Oh good, I'm glad to hear you'll have someplace to go back to when I close in three minutes." She reminded dryly. She scooped as many bottles and glasses as she could handle up from the table and walked them back to the counter. "I'm not kidding. Out into the streets with you!"

"Rosie!" Sirius whined again.

"Out." Was the only response.

The four boys rose to their feet, leaning heavily on the table and one another as they fumbled toward the door. At the threshold Rosie stopped them with a nudge on James's shoulder. She held out a bottle of Roaring Rum with a wink, "Congratulations." She smirked before shutting the door behind them and flipping the sign to read, "closed".

"Ohhh Rosie my dear, the love who is..isn't, isn't near…." Sirius tried to rhyme in song as he hiccuped and threw himself against the glass door of the bar. Rosie ignored his sad attempts at wooing her until James peeled him off the glass and dragged him stumbling down the cobbled road.

"Where to now?" Remus asked James.

"Where to now! The night is young we could go anywhere. We could go to the school, steal brooms and ride around, we could wander the forest, we could…"

"You want to go home and cuddle in bed with Lily don't you?" Remus asked.

"Yeah I kind of do." James realized stuffing his hands deep in his pockets and cocking his head to the side.

"No can do mate, we have a full bottle of rum and no boat to drink it on." Sirius noted.

"We must go find a boat!" Peter cheered. Sirius reached around James and pulled the bottle from his hand. He tried four times to open it before handling it wobbly to Remus.

"Open this." He slurred.

Remus popped the lid off and slugged back a drink before immediately passing it off to James, ignoring Sirius's pleading for a drink.

"Let's find a boat." James agreed coughing at the burning in his throat and passing the bottle around Sirius and to Peter.

"Wormtail, spare me!" Sirius begged, his eyes resembling Padfoot's far too much. Peter took a swig, but couldn't handle Sirius's puppy dog eyes and passed the bottle on to him.

"Where will we find a boat at this hour?" Peter wondered.

* * *

It took longer than it should have for the marauders to find the old shore where Hagrid kept a few boats tied up, even when there were no first years planning to use them. They had to drunkenly dodge a pair of aurors on night shift who were watching the main street then a pair of angry looking goblins setting down a deal behind Zonko's, but they finally arrived at the shore. They stared in reverence at the castle glistening across the lake then Sirius broke the silence, "We have made it. Climb aboard me scalawags." He grinned and barely managed to walk unaided to the edge of the lake. He tripped on a loose stone and dropped down hard on his knees.

Remus sobered enough to ask, "Are we sure it's a great idea to be drunk on a boat?"

"It is a great idea to be drunk on a boat." Sirius declared, crawling the rest of the way to the water's edge and trying to hold a boat still enough to get in, "The tipping in my head will counteract the tippy water. Iz why pirates drink" He explained through a slur.

"That cannot be true."

"Sounds good though," James smirked, trying to run but only managing to stumble over to Sirius's side.

He held the boat while Sirius fumbled in, "These boats've shrunk." The black haired man realized crouching in the center of one of the rowboats, "Didn't like five uz uf sit in here our first year?"

Remus and Peter cautiously neared the edge where James helped Remus stumble into a boat with Sirius, then followed Peter into a second.

"Whoa, the boats did shrink," Remus deadpanned.

Sirius pointed excitedly, "See Moony agrees with me."

"Padfoot sit down." Remus tugged on his friend's robe until he flopped onto his but in the base of the boat.

"It's wet down here," Sirius noted before snickering to himself at the accidental innuendo. Remus smacked him in the shoulder and stood back up.

"I'm abandoning ship, Wormtail. Rescue me! My captain's lost his bloody mind." Sirius began rocking the boat back and forth as Remus tried to step from one boat to the other.

"You're going to get him eaten by the squid!" Peter yelled, as Remus almost toppled into the lake. James was laughing too hard to breathe from the bottom of his and Peter's boat to do anything. Remus lasted a few seconds before falling into the lake and at the last minute pulling the edge of the boat with enough force to capsize Sirius with him.

The popped their heads up from the water sputtering green water and splashing one another until they heard Peter and James making jokes from the safety of their rowboat. Remus fished in his soggy pocket for his wand and Sirius paddled away from the scene. "Make them pay Remy!" He called trying to get as far from the boat as he could. James stumble to his feet fishing for his own wand.

"Not the Rum!" Peter pleaded prying the bottle from James's hand and scrambling for the shore. He set the bottle down and crawled back onto the safe dry ground at the same moment that James was pushed backward into the water by a well-placed tripping charm.

Sirius was cackling from further in the lake, "Remus's is still better than you at dueling even drunk." He mocked James.

Remus pulled himself out of the water and up onto the shore next to Peter as James and Sirius tried to smash as much water as possible at the other. The game ended when James swallowed a mouthful of green sludge and called for a truce.

Remus and Peter slouched into a new boat with the bottle of rum and were taking turns floating lazy balls of light over the lake's glass-like surface. The small lights reflected like a rainbow of sparklers until, further out in the lake they were batted down by tentacles or eaten by fish. James coughed up water on the shore and helped Sirius right his boat before falling back into his own. "Oh I smell like fish," Sirius gagged, sniffing his soaked clothes.

"I do to." James consoled, but didn't move to do anything about it. He stretched out and looked up at the sky. There were no stars only a navy-blue expanse. "No moon tonight Moony," James noted.

"Crescent waning" The werewolf corrected. He briefly looked up from the balls of light floating across the lake to double check his assertion.

"Yeah, but you can't see it 'cause of the clouds," James said.

Remus laughed lightly and looked over at the other boat, "Doesn't mean it's not there." All he could see was James's hand wave away the words over the edge of the boat's wooden side.

"Peter send me the alcohol." James requested, and a moment later the half-full bottle of rum was floating into his outstretched hand. He snuggled into the boat and watched Hogwarts' lights flicker overhead. Somewhere within its walls students were sleeping, there were probably a few still desperately trying to finish their homework in the common rooms and if James were lucky there would be a few wondering the halls giving Professor McGonagall a few more grey hairs and Filch a reason to curse. He smiled at the thought. He could hear Peter softly snoring from the next boat over and he briefly missed the comparative innocence of their midnight escapades.

James traced the castle's profile up to the astronomy tower and wondered if there were a couple up there now having a late night picnic, sitting in his and Lily's spots and talking about the future. He took another sip of Rosmerta's gift and smiled at the thought of getting to marry Lily Evans the following day. Making their future together permanent. The wedding would be perfect. Lily would be perfect. They could get married in a dirty alley and would still be perfect.

"S' a stupid grin."

James blinked away from the castle and saw Sirius's stupid grin moments before he fell into the boat half on top of him. James wiggled out from under Sirius and rolled him drunkenly over until until they were lying next to one another in the bottom of the boat.

"She's probably got that same dumb grin on her face." Sirius pointed out, and the thought of Lily at Godric's hollow thinking of him only made James's grin widen further, if that was possible.

"Merlin, I love her." James sighed lovingly.

"I know."

"She's perfect."

"I know." Sirius assured, again. "You've been saying it since first year. You know. Since you saw her on that fateful train ride." He tugged the bottle of alcohol from James's hand and took a small swig. "My boat was cold" Sirius huffed. He drunkenly rolled into James and mumbled, "I'm glad you're marrying Lily."

"Are you?" James asked. Over the past few months he had found himself playing mediator for his and Lily's increasingly frequent arguments. It worried him that his best friend and love of his life saw the world in such different ways, but Sirius's words were reassuring.

"Yeah Jamie," Sirius said tiredly. "She's like… She's like mean, but nice, and smart, and talented, and what's the word with the, she's good. She's really good, and you like her. And you're good… and you should marry her."

James snorted at Sirius's juvenile, but obviously heartfelt, descriptions, "I'm planning on it" James said. Sirius got very quiet and for a moment and James thought he had fallen asleep.

He was just reaching for his wand to cast a heating spell over their boat when Sirius jerked awake and asked, "You won't forget us though." He lifted his head briefly from James's arm and James saw genuine worry behind his unfocussed grey eyes.

James leaned back to see Sirius more clearly then said, "Of course not, you're my brother, stupid."

The side of Sirius's mouth lifted at the word "brother", and he slurred, "Oh yeah." The answer seemed to satisfy him because he let his head flop back down onto James's arm. Once again James reached down to pull his wand from his pocket and as he cast a heating spell he heard Sirius mumble something into his sleeve that sounded remarkably like, "I love you" before starting to snore louder than Peter.

* * *

The marauders woke with the sun the next morning knocking in a boat against the lake shore, "My head is pounding." Sirius groaned.

"Did we leave harbor?" Peter blinked awake from the next boat over.

"No, we couldn't figure out the ties, we just sat in the boat until we fell asleep." Remus kicked Peter off himself and sat up as bleary eyed as the rest of them. He squinted at the sunrise and fell back, defeated.

"Well, let's get James to his wedding." Peter resolved. Sirius rolled over in the boat and found James still asleep, a half-empty bottle of Rum in his hand, and a dopey smile on his face. Sirius smacked his cheek and greeted, "Happy wedding day, drunkard."

With some difficulty they apparated back to Godric's Hollow where the few people around were lazily decorating and organizing. They found Lily in the kitchen blowing on a cup of tea and talking with Alice about the day's plans.

"Morning boys." Alice smirked, seeing them all disheveled and hungover, "Tea for you?" She asked while eyeing them all.

"Love some," Remus said, yawning and pulling up a chair next to Lily.

The others lingered in the doorway until James said, "I'm going to get a shower." But instead of heading upstairs he walked around the table and kissed the top of Lily's head.

The other three waited for beat then to no one's surprise Lily looked up at James with a smile and innocent love reflected in her green eyes. She cooed, "I'm marrying you today."

"No, I'm marrying you." James argued, leaning down and pecking Lily on the lips.

"No, I'm marrying you." She kissed him back.

"No, I'm marrying you." Their eyes glittered with love while Peter and Sirius looked on with a mix of amusement and nausea.

Sirius eventually had to break up the argument, "Alright, I think we've seen enough of this. You can be gross together later. C'mon James let's get you ready for this thing." Sirius tugged at James's still fishy smelling cloak, but he didn't budge until Lily gave him one more kiss and requested, "Be ready by 4?"

"Absolutely" James reassured. They touched foreheads for a moment then James let himself be dragged around the table and out of the kitchen door.

Peter sat down at the table and Alice filled mugs for him and Remus.

"You two aren't going to help babysit James until the wedding?" Alice raised an eyebrow at the pair and motioned toward the upstairs.

"Nah. I'm suspicious they're going to get themselves into trouble, and I don't want any part of that." Remus said sipping at his tea.

"I'll check in on them later." Peter agreed. Upstairs they heard something breaking and then James and Sirius cackling.

"They better fix whatever that was." Lily shook her head. She pulled her mug over and sniffed the air questioningly, "What smells like a swamp?"

Remus and Peter shared a significant look, but didn't answer. Instead they giggled into their mugs and Lily retracted her question. After a while and a second cup of tea they went out back to help Alice with decorations while Lily went to take a shower and start her hair.

* * *

Lily leaned into the bathroom mirror, trying one last desperate time to get the flyaway strands of her hair pinned back. She was just putting in another sticking charm when a second face appeared in the mirror. Peter, eye's shut tight, bumped into the opened door, then fumbled around with outstretched hands until he had a firm grip on door frame, "Hey Lily." He greeted

"Hey Peter." Lily almost sang in reply, "You know the seeing the bride before the wedding thing only relates to the groom..?"

Peter visibly relaxed and opened his eyes gratefully.

"I wasn't sure, and I didn't want to offend you."

"It's just a muggle superstition anyway." Lily reminded with a warm smile.

"Oh… but you're half muggle."

"Don't worry about it" Lily waved away, "what's up?" She turned back to the mirror to test the hold on her hair and was delighted to see her up-do looking perfect.

"Oh.. nothing much. Sirius is just freaking out about losing James and Remus is trying to calm him down, and James is laughing at him, and I thought I'd come check on you."

Lily turned and leaned into the messy counter, "That's sweet of you."

Peter shrugged, "Beside Alice you didn't really have a bridal party and rumor has it she had to leave an hour ago to untangle her own husband from a flesh-eating plant issue."

"Yeah…" Lily face twisted with second-hand embarrassment for Frank. She still had a few friends scurrying around downstairs and it wouldn't be long before others started showing up wanting shown around and wanting to help, but for now she was on her own.

"Did you all remind Sirius about the joint custody agreement?" Lily asked changing the subject back to the group of guys downstairs.

Peter walked the rest of the way into the bathroom and put down the toilet lid before sitting down on the soft pink cover.

"We get him for full moons, every other weekend and non-religious holidays." Peter recited with a smirk.

"Exactly. Sirius has nothing to worry about, and he basically lives here half the time anyway." Lily twirled back to the mirror and picked up a stick of mascara.

In the mirror she watched Peter say, "That's what we told him, but it's Sirius, he fears change that's not instigated by him. Remember the revolt when they changed the weekend breakfast menu in fifth year?"

"It was awful until he realized that if he stayed up late enough he would just sleep through that meal anyway." Lily mumbled.

"Precisely, he'll get over this, or start drinking more. One way or the other…" Peter's voice trailed off.

Lily put on the best line of mascara she could then looked back at Peter. He was chewing his bottom lip nervously and she couldn't help but ask, "Whatcha thinking about?"

Peter fidgeted on the toilet. He was definitely thinking of something, and it didn't seem like an easy topic. Lily squinted nervously, "What's wrong Pete?" She pressed. She and Peter had never been particularly close, but over the past year, between her living with Remus and seeing them together often, and needing him to help her learn to cook they had gotten to know one another if nothing else.

"Do you and Sirius get along?" He finally spat out. Lily could see her brow furrow in the mirror as Peter plowed on, "I mean sometimes you act like it, but you know, I just want you guys to get along…"

Lily took pause at the worry in Peter's voice. She never took him for the peacekeeper of the group. She always assumed that was Remus, but as quiet and calm as the other boy was, he could hold his own in an argument. Peter, on the other hand, was so non-confrontational he likely did everything in his power to avoid the fight in the first place.

"I like him enough." Lily admitted, not quite sure how to answer, "He's _good_ …" She tried, "and his goals are in the right place most of the time… but you know how I feel about his drinking and general recklessness…" She sighed as she leaned into the counter, "He painted our bedroom red and gold last week. It took me days to fix it. The rest of you grew up in seventh year. I don't know if he ever will."

Peter looked worried about her statement, so Lily tried to clear it up, "I worry about him." She stated. "If anything happened to him it would be awful. I care about him and I worry about him. Is that good enough?"

Peter's face flickered through several emotions before finally settling on content, "I guess it has to be."

Lily nodded and Peter let a small smile take over his face, "So what does a temporary bridesmaid do for the bride, should I help you fix your hair, do your makeup?" Peter popped up from his seat up and jokily plucked something he believed was makeup off the counter.

He held it up trying to figure out its importance. Lily could only contain her giggles for a half second before reining it in and admitting, "Pete darling that's not a makeup applicator…" Peter dropped the small packaged device like it had bit him and wiped his hand on his grey dress robes.

"Okay?…"

Though entertained Lily decided to spare him, "Grab me something to drink? How about that?" She requested to cover up his awkward horror.

Peter nodded as he backed out of the bathroom.

"With a straw, I can't drink with this stupid lipstick on."

"You got it." Peter croaked as he held two thumbs up for her and left the master bedroom.

The house was still fairly quiet. Most of the Order members were working up until the last minute and those who weren't had gone home for a few hours to eat and put on wedding attire. Peter noted the quiet as he walked around piles of boxes from the move and the growing stack of gifts left in every corner. He found the three other marauders drinking tea in the kitchen.

"Wormtail! Great, you're here." Sirius was standing up, mug in one hand and a note on thick parchment in the other.

"Why's that great?" Peter worried.

Sirius waved away the obvious fear in his friend's voice and scanned the rest of the paper.

"We've found it." James told Peter.

"Found what?" Peter's attention bounced between the two young men.

"The thing that's going to disrupt the wedding. There had to be something." James said, as if it were obvious.

"Huh?"

"Gideon and Fabian think they've found someone who's worked with Crier," Sirius said breathlessly. "I have to go check it out. James is coming with, you and Remus have to cover for us."

"Really?" Peter said, stunned. He was torn between being excited that they had something on Crier and worried that something was about to go horribly wrong and ruin the wedding. James stood up to scan the letter over Sirius's shoulder and pull on his cloak.

"I already tried arguing with them," Remus said. He leaned back in his kitchen chair and shrugged. "They'll be fine. They're just popping over to a pub and back. Lily'll understand, it's Order business…or she'll kill them."

"Order business," James echoed. "We need to go now though."

"Okay?" Peter said weakly. He wasn't looking forward to stalling, or being a distraction from their obvious absence, but it didn't seem like there was much he could do to stop the pair from leaving. Sirius stuffed the parchment into his back pocket and accioed his cloak from the front room. He threw it on as the pair darted out the back door, calling thanks over their shoulders.

"Wow." Peter said as twin pops echoed through the window.

Remus shrugged, "Hopefully they've found something, but it's been a dead trail for so long it's hard to keep hopes up."

"But maybe." Peter whispered.

"As long as they don't get hurt."

"Lily'll kill us both if James dies on her wedding day." Peter mumbled.

Remus pulled a Daily Profit over to himself from the side of table, "I'm not telling her." He said as he scanned the headlines.


	4. Chapter 4: The Wedding

Lily's wedding day was going about as well as she had expected. The house was noisier than she could have ever imagined, but that was pleasant. It was wild with people and objects and color, but no sign of James and Sirius, at least not since that morning. Peter and Remus had buzzed around her for a while, then went off to get their own dress robes on.

Lily shook out her gown and left the kitchen where Alice and Melinda were chatting excitedly between fixing one another's hair and tasting sweets from the reception party later. She wound her way past snapping flower bouquets (Sirius's doing) and a deep pile of gifts, of which only some were making whirring noises and vibrating off the stack. She hastily straightened a package wrapped neatly in red and gold before it could shake itself off the side of the pile and continued her trek toward the living room, toward anyone who might know where her soon-to-be husband had gone off to. It wasn't likely she would find either James or Sirius milling about in the heavily decorated space, but it was on the list of places she hadn't yet checked, and she thought she had heard Remus and Peter in there earlier. When she did find what was left of her living room after excessive amounts of color changing crate paper, flowers in vases, and bubbles there were only two inhabitants.

She sighed in the doorway, looked up and back, just to make sure the two others weren't hiding, then approached the couch where Peter and Remus were sitting dressed in lush green and deep red robes respectively. They were loudly playing a card game between them and she could tell they from the way they made no move to greet her that they were forcefully ignoring her presence.

The pair's earlier nerves, and avoidance of questions about Sirius and James suddenly made sense. "Where did they go?" Lily sighed.

"7 of clubs," Peter said loudly looking carefully at the card he was about to set down.

Remus nodded exaggeratedly and made it clear he was considering his next move, "I should, oh no, maybe…"

Lily waited, they had another hour before anything was supposed to happen, but she was nervous, things were going well, the Order had taken extra shifts, had pitched in to give them this day, and she was more than worried the peace and quiet wouldn't last. She pressed down on her hair nervously, hoping the flyaways hadn't returned, then pulled on the sleeves of her gold dress robes. She had already changed, done her hair and makeup, she was ready to go. Of course she would have gotten married in a Ministry office if it would have gotten rid of this hullabaloo, if it would have taken away the giant bullseye off her house, but James loved the bullseye, and the celebration, and Sirius, as always, was on his side. Before she knew it the, "let's get married" had turned into, "let's have a wedding" into "let's have an EVENT", and she let it go, because they had all been working themselves into the ground, and because James was excited, and Sirius was scheming, and Peter was laughing, and Remus was smiling again. And now on the day they had all been waiting for, and working for, James and Sirius had gone missing, and she knew they weren't in the house from the way Remus was ignoring her, and Peter was trying to catch glimpses of her out of the corners of his light blue eyes.

She sighed and leaned back against the living room wall as Peter plucked another card out of his hand and played it. She watched them refuse to rat-out their friends for about four minutes before the crack she had been waiting for happened, and the two bodies spun into some of the only empty space left in the room.

Sirius landed with a stumble, but James was smooth, landing in the living room with his robes twirling elegantly around him. She noticed with a twinge of worry that a cut on his forehead was trickling blood, and the boys brought with them a light smell of burnt hair. James straightened out and mussed his hair enough to make her relax a bit. Peter exhaled like he hadn't properly breathed since that morning and Remus said a quiet, "thank you, Merlin". He got wearily to his feet and pulled out his wand. "Since it's Lily's wedding day and you just came back from a fight, I feel it necessary to ask…Most embarrassing moment?" Remus flicked his wand at James, who gave him an annoyed look.

"Ah, come on. In front of Lily?" He whined.

"From third year," Remus amended, and James smiled happily.

"Why that would be tripping on my face in front of my beautifully beautiful future wife outside potionses class," James slurred dreamily. Lily's eyebrows creased together at the sound of his voice. Surely they weren't drunk this early? James powered past Remus and over to Lily, "Sorry I'm late Lils. Letz go get married, right?" He looked around then stuffed a tie he found on a stack of boxes around his neck and tried to adjust it while shooting hurry-up looks over his shoulder to the others. Lily was bewildered. What had happened to them?

Sirius held up a finger to Remus who was surely about to question him as intently as he had questioned James, and then limped over to James and steered him back into the center of the room wrapped under his arm.

"We've got some time, mate," he clarified. James looked mildly relieved then a confused look crossed his face as if he suddenly didn't know what they had time for. He slumped a little against Sirius who didn't give Lily a second look but turned his attention back to Remus for his question.

Remus's stared worriedly at James long enough to force Peter to pop in with a question for Sirius, "favorite muggle magazine?"

Sirius made a sound as if he would never know for certain what his favorite was, but finally settled on answering with, "Poet's weekly." He was serious, and lying, "I like the subtle undertones of self-importance and arrogance." Remus and Peter both gave him unamused looks until he amended, "No Mechanic's weekly… No Penthouse! I'm a special fan of the July 1956 edition with the lovely ladies straddling motorcycles." Both Remus and Peter sighed in agreement. It was definitely Sirius.

"Sirius, dude, I love the hug here, but I'm getting married in a few minutes, could you turn me back over to Lils?" James requested plucking at Sirius's sleeves.

"Oh, certainly mate, soon as you can tell me where you're at," he challenged.

James nodded and looked around blearily. "Fair enough," His eyes spun around the room then landed with intensity on the drapery covering their large living room window on the far side of the room. He was not 100% sure where he was, but it was coming back to him… any second now. Why did his forehead itch? He reached up and touched the spot below his hairline, and pulled his finger away with the sticky red tell-tale sign of blood. He grumbled at the spot then dabbed away the rest of the blood with his sleeve. His sleeve looked very nice, very ritzy. What was he wearing? He suddenly looked up, jerking away from Sirius. "Shoot man I have to go get married, where's Lily? Is she ok?" He around and caught sight of Lily on the other side of the room, dazzling in her gold gown. She looked like a goddess. His mouth hung open as he stared.

"Hey Lily, isn't it bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding?" Sirius asked turning around swatting Lily away with a wave while still holding James off from bolting from the room in a rush to get married.

"Muggle thing, actually Sirius," Peter explained with a broad smile, proud of himself for remembering.

"And Lily's a muggle. Wouldn't want to ruin her wedding day. Shoo." Sirius waved again with no real hope of success.

"Tea!" Remus cut in. "Tea is a tradition for both muggles and witches. Would you like a mug Lily?" He reached out to steer Lily from the room.

She shrugged him off as worry flickered across her face between bouts of fear. She quickly settled the nerves rushing through her, contained them in the box where she kept every other inch of her terror and worry that had collected over the last few months, heck the last year and a half. That had been collecting since she joined the Order, and began training, and graduated, and got engaged and bought a house. Remus put a hand on her shoulder, a quiet suggestion to leave the room. Instead she stepped out of his reach and walked over to her betrothed.

"Hey," she greeted reaching out with her right hand to touch his arm. Briefly his eyes focused, and they focused on her. Off to the side Sirius was smiling crookedly but she could tell he was also braced for his friend to stumble and fall face first into either of them.

Lily held out both of her hands and took James's. She smiled and they stood for a moment, taking in the fact that they were alive, two people focussing on the person they were about to pledge the rest of their lives too, on their wedding day. Despite the noise coming in from the kitchen, the crashing noises from the small backyard and the creaking floorboards from upstairs they were trapped in their own silent moment. After another moment she let them go, pulled her wand out of the strap up her left sleeve and did a quick bit of magic to get rid of the worst of the cut above his eye.

"I got my shirt bloody," he finally admitted, holding up the sleeve she had watched him wipe blood on just moments before.

"Yup, you sure did."

"Can we put tide on it?" Sirius asked excitedly from off to the side.

"I would rather just use magic," she said softly, siphoning away as much of the stain as she could. It wasn't all that bad on his red robes anyway.

"You've got this sorted. Whatever this is?" She asked, broadening her gaze to include Sirius.

"Scheduled perfectly, we might have to duck out for a few minutes before the reception though," Sirius replied. James looked with mild confusion at his sleeve.

"And that?" Lily asked, "just a confunding charm I hope?"

"A good one, only half deflected through a weakened shield charm though, so…."

"Should wear off," they finished together.

"I'll make sure he's better for the ceremony," Sirius promised.

Lily breathed out in relief. She grabbed either side of James's confused looking face and pulled him in for a firm kiss.

When she let go James giggled, "Lily Evans just kissed me." He bopped her nose playfully.

She smiled back at him, but she needed to go make sure the Prewetts hadn't destroyed her backyard and that the Bones children hadn't eaten the wedding cake. The marauders could handle her confunded husband. She turned back the way she had come and instead of moving around a series of boxes hoisted her dress robes up and stepped over them. Before leaving completely she turned back to Sirius, "You have an hour to get him back to normal. You need me to help kick some ass after the ceremony?"

Sirius was watching James watch his own hand. "We should be alright. It's a Crier thing and Gideon's on it," he answered. She took a second to scan over the room of marauders. Remus was rubbing his temples in disbelief. Peter had taken up checking James over while Sirius sifted through a nearby bowl of candy for all of the Honey Dukes chocolate. As she left she heard James, in a panic, ask if he'd missed his own wedding. Yes, things were going just as well as she had expected.

* * *

True to his word Sirius (though more than likely Peter and Remus) had returned James to his usual self by the time the ceremony was set to start. She didn't mind them sneaking off, especially if it had something to do with Crier, and she would cover for them while they disappeared between the wedding and reception. Especially if it meant they came back with answers.

Under a sky that threatened rain Lily shuffled from foot to foot. Edgar had promised to perform the ceremony, but he hadn't arrived yet, he and Moody were on duty until the last second. Three other guests were set to arrive on the dot. It was three minutes past the starting time, and a few droplets of rain had begun to pitter patter against the Prewetts' invisible tent roof. It reminded her of the Hogwarts dining hall roof and it was splendid.

Lily didn't mind the wedding starting late. If that was the second worst thing that happened today she would still count herself lucky. The pitter patter turned to a steady drum. She breathed in the deepest breath she could, and just when she though her lungs would explode there was a loud popping noise in the yard and Edgar and Moody rushed under the protective tent. Lily watched through the kitchen's window as Edgar shook a bit of rain out of his hair, and smiled apologetically at the crowed made up of Order members and a few trusted friends from school. Moody took his seat and James and Sirius took their places next to Edgar. "Let's get this show on the road then," Edgar said congenially. James and Sirius both beamed.

Alice poked Lily in the back and Melinda squeezed her hand once before slipping out the back door. It was a short wedding procession, but that's all Lily needed. She checked her robes once more as Emmeline charmed a borrowed piano into playing a soft wedding march. This was it, this was all she could have ever hoped for in a wedding.

Lily stumbled in her heals down the back stoop, but couldn't have notice less if she tried. All she had eyes for was James, standing tall in front of the small audience. The weather had easily swept his hair into a frenzy but his hazel eyes were locked on her.

His mouth was slack, stunned silent at seeing her for the first time on their wedding day without the cloud of a confunding charm. She was alone, with no parent to walk her down the aisle, but in James's eyes it brought out the strength of her character, the beauty of her inner being.

To Lily it felt like an hour before she met him at the front of the tent where she stopped, brimming with delight to be at his side. Edgar reached out for their shoulder and squeezed, a gentle reassuring touch just for them. He let go and pulled a small sheet of paper out of his back pocket. Lily leaned over and whispered in James's ear, but not quietly enough.

Edgar laughed and told the crowed, "For those of you who can't hear them, Lily just whispered 'I missed you' which makes me think they haven't seen each other in…" Edgar's eyes danced between them until Lily mouthed the answer. "Since three. They haven't seen each other since three. A whole hour." There was happy cheering from the crowed, and someone wolf-whistled in appreciation.

Edgar could barely contain his amusement as he officially began the ceremony, "So the bride and groom asked me to read something short, so we could get it over with and get on with the dancing and revelry." There was polite laughter this time before he continued, "Uh…So here goes." Edgar sounded nervous. He didn't usually perform weddings, but it was Lily and James's special request that he would marry them, and he acquiesced after some active prodding on their part. He looked down at his notes, flipped then right side up and then began, "Love grows. Sometimes is grows quickly, and sometimes slowly, over many years. Sometimes it sprouts like a flower in the spring and sometimes like a tree taking root before it rises up. But it grows stubbornly nonetheless. It grows until it's a home, a path, a warm hug, a forest."

"I haven't known Lily and James for long, and they may appear to be young, but I knew from the first instance I saw them together that they were deeply in love. I knew today, as they stared at one another down the aisle, and how they're still too busy staring at each other now to hear a word I'm saying, that their love will persist." James and Lily proved they _were_ listening by shivering out nervous giggles. "So now I ask them, with full certainty of the answer-" Edgar inhaled deeply and turned to James, "will you James Fleamont P-"

"Yes. Yes. Yup."

"Let me finish."

James nodded reverently.

"Do you take Lily June Evans to be your lawfully wedded wife. To have and to hold in sickness and in health, for better or worse until death do you part?"

"I do," James bounced on his feet, so excited was he to be saying "yes". Edgar turned painfully slowly to Lily and repeated,

"And do you Lily June Evans-" He waited briefly to be interrupted again, but continued when no argument was presented, "take James Fleamont Potter to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold in sickness and in health for better for or worse, until death do you part?"

Lily nodded, letting the happy tears finally slide down her face. "I do. I absolutely do," She beamed.

"The with the power vested in me by the Ministry of Magic and the Wizengamot I now pronounce you husband and wife you may-" He didn't have to finish the statement James had already twirled Lily around, dipped her and kissed her.

Edgar put his hands happily on his hips, "Yup." He waited a beat and then said, "get up James I have to perform the spell."

James reluctantly returned Lily to an upright position and clasped his hands in hers. Edgar focussed on his wand as he waved it over their interlocked hands. The shining blue light entcrtiwened them for a moment then faded away, locking them together forever.

"Awesome," James grinned.

The crowed of onlookers cheered and whistled as James and Lily walked together hand-in-hand back down the aisle. They didn't leave the tent, but turned back around and waved their wands in a similar gesture. Bright decorations appeared under the tent, announcing the beginning of the reception.

People turned to one another as preparations for the reception continued. It would still take some time to set everything up. Remus, Peter, and Sirius huddled around the newlyweds and after everyone hugged them and congratulated them they got down to business.

"Rem and Peter will help with the set up," Sirius told Lily. "We have to hop back over to the pub."

Lily didn't waste her time on disappointment, "You warned me, and if it means getting Crier it's worth it." While confusion bubbled around them, Lily stood on her toes and pecked James on the nose, "Be back soon, and in one piece." She pleaded with seriousness in her eyes.

"Promise." James looked over his shoulder. Sirius was beckoning him to the side of the yard. James looked back at Lily. "It wouldn't be our wedding without this," he apologized. Lily smiled in agreement and before James could help himself he dipped her into a dramatic kiss again. Lily came up laughing and James scrambled away to meet Sirius and disaparate to their next fight.

They landed in an alley by a moderately busy muggle street. "Gideon" James greeted as soon as he saw the Order member out on the sidewalk straring up at the dark pub's wooden sign.

"James." Gideon nodded.

"Thanks for handling the rest of round one for us," James thanked Gideon. "This the place?" James looked up at the sign and heard Sirius curse behind him,

"That bitch."

"Sorry?" Gideon glanced over at Sirius.

"This was one of Kitty's favorite pubs," James explained of Sirius's ex-girlfriend and daughter of the one and only Zael Crier.

"That is fitting that they would be here then," Gideon whistled sympathetically. "So how was the wedding?"

A dreamy cloud passed over James's face.

"It was lovely." Sirius cut in bruskly.

"Sorry we missed it."

"You coming to the reception?" James woke back up.

"Wouldn't miss it… or the drinks." Gideon smirked.

Sirius stuffed his hands in his pockets and asked, "So where's your brother then?"

Gideon jerked his head behind him at the pub. "Checking things out with Emmeline. People take notice of twins, not so much a couple." He pointed out.

"Do we have a plan?" James wondered.

"Should there be one?" Sirius crinkled his brow, "It's a couple Death Eater thugs, they can either point us toward Crier or they can't, no need to scheme."

James thought about their options, storming in, demanding answers, getting in a fight. They had the men pinned in a muggle bar where they couldn't use magic, what could happen? The squirmish they had gotten into earlier that day that had led them to these men made him certain they knew something. Now Sirius and James just had to pull it out.

"So Emmeline and Fabian haven't overheard anything?" James assured.

Gideon shook his head and said, "No it seems like they're just out for a beer."

James nodded then looked at Sirius. They silently agreed on a plan. James steadied himself and walked into the bar. It might have been four in the afternoon, but inside it was midnight. Dark curtains covered the window and a halo of cigarette smoke obscured their vision.

At the bar James saw the outline of Fabian with his arm around Emmeline. He caught their eye and Fabian nodded to a booth. James looked over. A large man who clearly hadn't bothered to change out of his wizard garb was squeezed behind the table. Across from him sat a companion who looked like he had been pressed through a noodle maker. His long skinny body was topped with a thin tuft of orange cotton candy hair. James double checked with Sirius via a glance and sidled over to the table. Fabian and Emmeline readjusted themselves to be better backup.

"What?" A crumbling smile of grey teeth split the overweight wizard's dusty face. "You here to get stunned?" He asked in his cloudy cigar voice.

"Here for a few bits of intel actually." James replied. He and Sirius stalked over to the booth where the man sat sprawled out lazily. "Where's the rest of your gang."

"Out. I see you've recovered from your bought of confusion." The man laughed, he had obviously been tipped off by James and Sirius's informant, but he hadn't run. James was thinking about tactics when Sirius jumped in.

"Out? Hmm… Good that'll make this quick and easy," Sirius pocketed his wand and slipped into the booth across from the man. "So where's Crier?"

Nothing but a crooked smile responded to the question.

"The Restune curse? Was that your invention?" Sirius continued congenially. He seemed fairly certain nothing horrible would come from the conversation. James was uncomfortably aware of the fact that Sirius was playing good cop. Eventually he would have to chime in, cruelly, a job usually left for the heir to the Black family fortune. Sirius could fake it much better. "How about Crier? Someone told us you knew where to find him."  
The man didn't flinch and James saw his entry point. He leaned forward slamming a hand onto the table and directing the man's attention his way, "You think you win this, you're two to one, and-" James leaned in close to the man, as if telling a juicy secret, "I don't have any reason not to kill you for this information."

"Hah." The man leaned away from James and looked him up and down as if gazing at a misbehaved child. James held his gaze, and tried to hide any sign that he was barely 19 and had never killed someone while the other wizard was in his 50s if not his 60s and well versed in the art of torture.

"There's no finding him, too well hidden. I can't even give away his hideout if I wanted to-" He held up a scared wrist, "Secret bound."

"You'll want to." James hissed. There was a blast of noise from behind them and James turned, wand out and ready to fight.

"Stand down." Rochester looked like a man who had seen a fight go down every night for forty years. Relatively unscathed compared to Moody his scars were likely internal, showing only through a pair of eyes that had simply lost the energy to be blue, "This is Auror Business now."

"Rochester." James tried to hide his wand as the head of the auror department sauntered over to them with a curious stare,

"Potter? Black…" Over the auror's shoulder James saw Emmeline and Fabian duck out of the building.

"Hi, mate." Sirius attempted to sound calm but James could hear the nerves hiding right under the surface of the words.

Rochester lowered his wand and gave them each a once over.

"You're two of Moody's boys?" He asked them dryly. He looked over their heads to an auror who was now holding the collar of the man they had been trying to interrogate. He nodded and the auror dissaparated. James glanced over his shoulder, annoyed at the empty seat where their only lead on Crier had been.

"You're causing a scene." James grumbled, trying to keep frustration out of his voice.

Rochester shrugged, "You were causing a scene. We'll clean up after ourselves, but he needed taken in, something about torturing a muggle up near Manchester." He didn't let them off the hook and asked again, "You here on Moody's orders?"

"Perhaps," Sirius said slyly.

Rochester sighed, "Listen I already know who sent you. What did he think was going on here?"

James looked at Sirius who clearly agreed with his unspoken thought- If Harrison had turned they couldn't be certain Rochester wasn't a Death Eater as well. They couldn't trust anyone outside the Order, really.

"Can't say sir." James admitted.

Another tired sigh, "I know he's after Death Eaters in his off time, as well as when he's on the clock. If we work together we can get further. You tell me what you know and I can help." Rochester didn't bother pleading, he seemed to already know the answer, so his expression didn't change when James chewed the inside of his lip and reiterated his early statement,

"Can't say anything, we were just here for a beer."

"A beer and an argument with a criminal?" Rochester stared.

"Bar fights are fun." Sirius perked up.

"Hard to blame a man for trying," Rochester intoned. "You shouldn't stick around. Consider the bar closed." Rochester waved the pair away with a brush of his hand.

James and Sirius stumbled back into the street a little surprised. Sirius let out a series of curses so loud that a little old lady across the street told them to hush up. This was the closest they had gotten to Crier in months and the Ministry had swooped in and stolen it. "If we talk to Moody maybe he'll be able to talk to him back at the Ministry," James tried to calm.

A dog-like growl emanated from the back of Sirius's throat before he was able to stop grueling profanities. He was still frowning when James suggested, "We should get back, not much else we can do here when we've been kicked out, and Rochester isn't going to interrogate him here. We can talk to Moody at the reception."

"We have to do something. That guy knows!" Sirius finally said.

James nodded.

Sirius growled again but eventually nodded and they walked into the alley to apparate back to Godric's hollow.

Sirius and James landed on the front lawn and crawled over the vine covered fence into the backyard. The reception was noisy, but they hadn't missed much in their brief escape. To Sirius's relief no one had usurped his role and turned on music.

They were just trying to figure out what was going on when Lily swooped down on them. "Cake time," she slipping her hand into James's and pulled him through the crowed. Sirius grabbed James's arm as they entered the reception didn't let go so he could be pulled along up to the table that had been set up under the safety of the tent. A three layer cake, glittering with a well placed charm, sat waiting to be cut and eaten. Peter was already there holding a knife and trying to count heads in fear that he hadn't brought enough plates and forks. Melinda sidled over and asked him, "how's our cake?"

"Fine. I think?" He mumbled back nervously.

Lily reached over and pried the knife from his hands. Remus slipped to the front of the crowed, smiling. Almost everyone was there, and her heart flutter with appreciation. She held out her hand waiting for James to put his hand over hers. From his side Sirius coughed and James stopped staring at Lily long enough to realize she was waiting for him. He shook himself out and some of the audience laughed as he placed his hand over hers.

Together they lifted the knife and cut slowly through the top layer. Before it reached the plate underneath there was a crackling sound, both the bride and groom ducked away and at least three members of the audience whipped out their wands, but the crackling was only followed by small fireworks shooting from the where the knife had cut into a charmed layer of cake. Worry turned to surprised smiles and Lily gave Peter a questioning look. He looked away while Sirius cracked up off to the side. When the fear wore off the spell was delightful.

When the short fireworks show stopped they finished cutting the cake, and to Peter's relief there was more than enough dinnerware for everyone. A charm on the record player started up a song that Sirius had chosen and people began to fill up the dance floor. Couples paired off and loners sat idly at tables discussing anything they could think of that wasn't related to Order work or the state of the wizard world. Dedalus Diggle was trying to describe muggle football to Professor Mcgnagall and Hagrid was showing off something small and furry that was living in one of his several deep pockets. The Prewetts had shown up in time to attempt a mosh pit by the music stand and Emmeline was enjoying being carried around on Gideon's shoulders. Sirius had charmed a few of his favorite songs to play in a row, and Lily admitted the lineup wasn't terrible.

Peter poured himself another glass of the Argentinian Sweet Wine James's parents had sent over for the wedding and glanced over at the snack table thinking about what he wanted to fill his plate with next. There were some delicious looking pumpkin pasties and some cake left. He was just thinking about the small cookies Melinda and Alison had made when a voice broke through his thoughts. "Hey" He looked around for the voice only to find it coming from a young woman now standing next to him at the drink table.

"Hey" He replied.

"Hey," Marlene said again, giggling nervously. She bounced on two blue strappy heals then glanced over at him for the briefest of moments. Peter tried to think of something to say, but his ability to think had been briefly ruined by the woman's robin blue robes and long tresses.

He garbled words for a second before recovering, "You're, um you're the new girl in the Order right?"

She nodded, "Yeah, I've seen you and your friends at a few meetings. I'm Marlene."

"I know."

Her pale thin fingers gripped the edge of her drink nervously, "You want to? Um, never mind." She looked suddenly very red in the face, but Peter had perked up significantly.

Almost desperately he asked, "Do I want to what?"

"Nothing, I just-" Marlene looked uncomfortable for a moment then spit out, "I wanted to know if you wanted to dance?"

Peter looked at her as if she had grown a second set of ears, "Dance?"

"Like together, I like this song, and it's a shame to miss it, on a night like this…" Marlene explained.

It was Peter's turn to grow red in the face, "Oh! Yeah, of course…" He looked at her in awe for a moment. Marlene stared at him, dry mouthed, then he nodded just a bit. Relief washed over Peter and he couldn't help but let out a huge breath of air. The honesty of the moment made Marlene laugh with relief as well the tension broke enough that when Peter walked into the a chair leg on the way to the dance floor it was slightly funnier and slightly less embarrassing than it could have been.

Out on the dance floor James and Lily looked as brilliant as the spring stars above. Her dress robes flew out around her now bare feet as James spun her around, and James's hair was dashingly disheveled, but what caught Remus's eye was they way they couldn't take their eyes off one another, or keep the "I love yous" from gracing their lips.

"Well aren't they the cutest thing in the world," Sirius smirked sidling up to Remus who was leaning against the snack bar.

"Heartbreakingly," Remus smirked back.

Sirius eyed hum curiously before taking a sip of the drink he was hitting hard. He scanned the dance floor for any lone woman then asked, "you ever imagine settling down like them?" Sirius yawed, staring at the dancing pair as if sizing up the possibility.

Remus laughed mirthlessly and crossed his arms over himself.

"What? It's not that crazy of an idea, you'd make some very boring girl, very happy."

"You might," Remus tried to divert the conversation away from himself, however unsuccessfully.

Sirius didn't take the bait but continued on his train of thought, "Why are you so opposed to the idea of it? Really? I am because it sounds horrible, but you love the idea, I can tell."

"How can you tell?"

"You're staring at them," Sirius pointed out dryly and Remus cheeks suddenly burnt bright red as he forced a reserved blank face back on. He quickly turned his attention back to his shoes because, of course, he had been staring rather fixedly at Lily and James swaying on the dance floor. He hoped Sirius had had enough to drink to give it up, but the other man didn't move, and after a few seconds he even nudged Remus's side with his elbow.

"Leave it will you?" Remus chided, but Sirius was never one for leaving anything alone.

"James thought you loved her," Sirius smirked. Remus almost smiled back, he remembered that conversation quite well. "He used to worry about it all the time. He knew Lily would like you more…"

"Yeah, well he was wrong, as usual."

"So-?" Sirius pried.

"I don't know." Remus sighed heavily and finally admitted, "Werewolves don't fall in love."

"Bullshit."

"Sirius…" Remus could feel the open bar wreaking havoc on his judgement, "Listen when I was nine, we were living in some muggle town, and there was a girl down the street. Beautiful, blonde, big blue eyes." Remus looked to Sirius to gauge his reaction. This his surprise Sirius wasn't laughing, and didn't seem to be scanning his imagination for a jibe. Remus shook his head, "maybe it was the way she bested everyone when we played football, or that she would always have a book with her, I don't know, but I remember walking home one day, and I ran to my dad and I said, 'Liddy is the greatest girl ever, and I'm going to marry her'."

This must have surprised Sirius because his eyebrows snuck up his forehead. Remus was staring too resolutely out at the dance floor to notice, "I will never forget the look on my Dad's face. I don't know if he ever said it, really, but I knew, even at nine, I knew." Remus squinted at Sirius to see if he had gotten his point. His friend didn't speak, "Sirius werewolves don't get married, maybe, maybe to other werewolves, but that's rarely official. We definitely don't marry beautiful witches."

"Bollocks," Sirius cursed. "That's just bigoted, stupid-"  
"Sirius, don't," Remus cut off. "I'm not going to fall in love. I decided that at nine, and I'm sticking to it. I'm not worth it."

Sirius looked like someone had punched the wind out of him. He was quiet, possibly for the first time since Remus had met him. Remus pushed himself off the table and picked up his drink. "I'm going to go ask the bride for a dance," he said quietly.

Sirius opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but gave up as Remus walked away.

* * *

By two am the partiers had worn out their feet. The desert table had been ransacked and the drinks were trickling off to decent end. Though the Order members admitted the break was delightful they were all dreading their hangovers, and their respective duties the next day. They began to trickle out, leaving the marauders and Lily alone in the backyard admiring the dancing lights hanging in the Potter's trees and trying desperately to stay awake.

"Lily what kind of vines are these," Remus slurred into a tangle or greenery climbing up the side of the Potter's house.

"Remus get your head out of the weeds." Sirius chided. He stumbled to his feet and slowly pulled Remus back into their circle.

"They're just odd," Remus mumbled as he was plopped back down onto the half-deconstructed dance-floor next to Peter.

"We need to clean up."

Sirius waved a dismissive hand. "We'll do it tomorrow."

"I've got work tomorrow." James yawned.

"No way. The day after your wedding? Don't you have other things to be doing." Sirius looked at Lily and waggled his eyebrows.

"God Sirius." Lily kicked out at him and blushed.

"Whatever," Sirius rolled onto his back and stared up at the twinkling stars. The sky had cleared after the afternoon rain leaving the air cold and the ground damp. He picked out Canis Major slightly to the left of Orion's belt then Canis Minor. "I'm out tonight!" He cheered into the air then tried to howl at his own constellation until another kick in the rib shut him up.

"S' my thing," Remus slurred.

"Dogs can howl too." Sirius grumbled.

"Neither of you can howl, you'll wake the whole neighborhood." Lily pointed out.

"Nah, we silence the whole backward." James smiled over at Lily who rolled closer to him to peck his nose with a kiss.

Off to the side they could hear Peter begin to quietly snore.

"Wormtail can sleep anywhere." Sirius rolled onto his stomach and smacked out at Peter. "C'mon you great lump, time to go sleep on Remus's floor."

"Shouldn't apparate this drunk." Remus reminded.

"I'm not staying here while the house is rockin'" Sirius said, pulling himself to his feet, "Let's go worry wart. It'll be fine."

Remus grumbled to his feet and he and Sirius pulled Peter to up. With a little effort they managed to apparate back to Remus's apartment where they slept crashed out on whatever bit of soft furniture they could find.


	5. Chapter 5: Mission Accomplished

**Chapter 5: Mission Accomplished**

In general, life was only a little different after the wedding. Sure, there was an officialness to James's ditching them for Lily that hadn't been there before, but Godric's Hollow's door was always open, and despite having places of their own Remus, Sirius and Peter found themselves there often when their time wasn't being taken up with Order duties or in Peter's case, work.

Of course, those moments were becoming rarer and rarer as the war raged on. It seemed that there was a new attack or new information coming to light every day. In late April two low-level ministry officials in the obliviator office had been found to be under the Imperious curse, and tensions were high. The Order had needed to relocate a record number of muggle families in the last month, and The Bones were nervously sheltering the muggle born husband and the half-blood child of a prominent anti-Voldemort journalist in their spare bedroom.

If the marauders weren't working, they were thinking about working, or prying apart ancient books on the dark arts in a desperate search for things they might have to work against in the near future. It was exhausting and difficult to defend against everything, but that's exactly what they were doing. It was getting close to every day that one of them would mumble some new terror they had found in a book borrowed from Hogwarts restricted section or the ministry's SAD (Scary and Dangerous) collection. Worse than the horrors that were happening before their eyes, was the fear that things could get worse before they ever got better. So they fought, because they could and because they had to.

Lily and James returned from a record short honeymoon and before they knew it were buried in research and guard duties. Remus was sent off to visit a small pack of werewolves near the southern coast, while Peter and Mundungus picked up their practice of snooping in back alleys. And Sirius didn't wait long after the wedding before scheduling his and James's first janitorial shift at the ministry. With the help of the aurors and a few other Order members who had an ear-to-the-ground in the Ministry they were able to locate targets and places they should search.

Their first night wasn't what they expected and try as they might they spent more time cleaning than spying. A week later was no different, but Sirius refused to be deterred.

April ended, and in the middle of May's first warm day, the Marauders gathered outside Godric's Hollow, all together for the first time since the wedding. All shifts were covered, and the full moon was still a safe week away.

Over the month since the wedding, the quiet pact about sticking together through the war existed through nothing more than rushed afternoon chess games in the living room, or the dinners Peter would cook for anyone who had time to eat. But underneath the goading and joking, the story telling and long conversations, there was a desperation, an unspoken terror that anytime someone left through that front door it could be the last.

But they kept coming back, and a silent thanks was thrown to the universe with every return. Every friendly greeting shouted from the front door was a relief, and every distraction was welcome. So it was with bewildered amusement that on their first day together, they found themselves staring at Sirius's Blacks newest, and strangest purchase.

"You bought this?" Remus walked around the sleek black motorcycle eyeing it in the same way he would a full grown troll standing in his living room. "It's a terrible idea."

"No, it's not Moony." Sirius stroked the handle of the machine proudly. "I already know how to work these things theoretically, how much harder can it be in practice? It'll be just like riding a broom." He looked like a child on Christmas and Remus took a wary step backward.

"Didn't you fall off your broom the first time you rode it?" Peter asked.

"I was three, and my Uncle Alphard had charmed it to fly too high." Sirius pouted.

James reached out and fiddled with a handle, but still didn't look completely sold on the idea. "Why don't you just ride a broom then?"

"This is cooler!" Sirius insisted. His patience was running out with his skeptical friends. "Look, you just-" Sirius flung a leg over the machine and sank into the seat. He fiddled with a few knobs, and suddenly the machine roared to life. Three wands snapped out of their hiding places to point nervously at the object while Lily cracked up laughing from the front porch. Sirius threw his hands in the air in surrender. "I'm fine!" he yelled over the noise. "Stop panicking!"

Remus lowered his wand and tilted his head to the side, but Peter didn't relax his grip on his wand, or Remus's robes. Eventually, Remus tried to yell something over the sound of the engine, but Sirius couldn't hear him and decided to smile as if Remus hadn't certainly, just insulted his intellect.

Sirius revved the engine again then skidded a few paces forward and stopped abruptly. He looked briefly startled but shook it off. He straightened himself on the seat, repeated the action and this time took off at a frightening pace away from Godric Hollow's front lawn and onto the unfriendly hot blacktop beyond.

He had traveled the distance of a Quidditch pitch before the wheels pitched out from under him and he spun into a skid on the ground, the machine suddenly silenced.

All three men darted down the street to Sirius who was peeling himself off the asphalt. "Not exactly like riding a broom," He noted. He stared at his bleeding hands and ripped jeans for moment, then straightened, replaced his determined smile and insisted, "I'll just have to practice a bit."

"He's gonna die," Remus mumbled.

"It'll at least be entertaining," Peter quipped.

"It'll be awesome." James cheered finally getting on board for Sirius's crazy idea after seeing it in action. He high-fived Sirius who immediately winced and looked down at his grazed hand sadly. James pulled his hand toward him and repaired the damage with a mere flick of his wand. "Try again!" James encouraged, then helped Sirius pull the bike back up onto two wheels. Remus and Peter took tentative steps backward.

It took less than an hour and only three spells to get Sirius zipping around the small town, annoying neighbors and receiving disproving looks from the wizards in the community.

"Want a ride to the meeting?" Sirius asked coming to a skidding halt next to Remus who had taken up station leaning against the wooden fence. Sirius scooted up in the seat to make room, but Remus was clearly uninterested.

"If I wanted road rash I'd cut out the middle man and just throw myself at the ground," Remus intoned. "I'll apparate."

"Suit yourself, but this is the best way to-"

"I'll ride," James called from the house, disentangling himself from Lily's embrace and rushing from the porch. He cleared the fence with a sideways jump and popped onto the back of the bike.

"You kill yourself I'm not taking you to St. Mungos," Lily called.

"I wouldn't want you to," James called back, knowing the Order was still boycotting the hospital after they had refused to weed out Voldemort supporters from their staff for "political reasons."

"S'alright dear Lily, Wormy will take care of us," Sirius smirked.

"Will not!" Peter snorted.

"We won't crash anyway," James waved off.

"'Course not," Sirius agreed. "Ready to go Jamie?"

"Yes, yes. Hurry along, or we'll be late." James threw his hands onto Sirius's shoulders, stood up, and Sirius slammed on gas tearing off down the street leaving Remus and Peter cursing in the dust kicked up by the tires.

"It'll be the death of them." Remus coughed as the motorcycle screeched around a corner.

"Oh, undoubtedly," Peter nodded in agreement.

* * *

A week and four boring shifts- where James and Sirius continued to struggle with basic cleaning spells- later, and they were ready to call it a good try and throw in the towel. Lily, however, wasn't so convinced on giving up, and that Wednesday she suggested they give it one last try. She armed them with her best lock picking spells and told them to try again. There was only one thing that needed to be sorted out before they left.

James said he'd sort it out and stopped by Remus's flat, where he found his friend lounging on the couch, eyes glued to the thickest defense book James had ever seen.

"Hey, Moony."

"Hey, James. What's up?"

"Nothing. Move over." James flopped down next to Remus and read the cover of the book Remus had refused to put down, "Culling Dark Creatures. Gross, why are you reading that?" James asked. Most of the books Remus had read lately had been about counter spells and defense, James didn't understand the sudden dark turn.

"It's just another book on Moody's the list. He's worried Voldemort will start using dark creatures to come after us." He flipped the page and continued reading. James didn't think it was worth dragging more information out of him. Instead he switched over to the real reason for his visit.

"Can you take Sirius's shift tonight, we have the night shift at the Ministry together."

"I thought you gave up."

"Moony. We didn't give up. We restrategized."

"Uh huh…"

"Lily said we should try again," James admitted.

"Yeah. I know."

"Please take the shift," James pleaded.

"Uh.. who's it with?" Remus asked because he had a sneaking suspicion he knew the answer.

"Melinda. Why?"

"Can you maybe ask Peter to do it?" Remus finally looked up from his book and let his head fall miserably against the back of the couch.

James gave him a withering look that said, "don't make me send Peter, you know he can't hack this kind of work," and Remus couldn't help but sigh. He hadn't the heart to remind James that Melinda knew what he was and that she was more than a little put off by it. He had spent the past half a year avoiding the Bones at all cost, which was becoming increasingly difficult with James and Lily enjoying their married friends with greater frequency. He couldn't figure out a good way to get out of James's request without pointing that all out so he fidgeted with the book in his hand then relented, "Fine."

James threw his hands in the air. "Goody. Lily's at Godric's Hollow, she has the details."

Remus eyed James as his friend popped to his feet, bowed his goodbye, and left through the floo with flourish.

Assuming he shouldn't put it off, Remus groaned to his feet and apparatus to the Potter's backyard.

Lily met him as he stepped through the back door and into the kitchen.

"Hey Remus, what are you doing here?"

"Came to meet you for tonight's stake out."

"Oh right, Sirius was coming. You're covering for him."

"I am," Remus agreed.

"I'll be ready in a few, Melinda's coming over here in a bit, and then we'll head out. "

"Great." Remus hoped his voice didn't sound as pathetic as he felt, but he couldn't hide his emotions from Lily. She turned to look at him, surprise written clearly on her face.

"What's up?"

Remus could have hidden it, but Lily would just grow more and more suspicious as the night wore on. He scratched the back of head nervously before stating, "I think Melinda's still uncomfortable about the…about the werewolf thing."

"The…wait...You think she has something against you?"

Remus sighed. It wasn't that Melinda didn't like him, and it wasn't that she was ever openly rude to him, but she was a witch, and though she hadn't been raised as one she had quickly picked up certain prejudices. He couldn't blame her; everyone had them, she was much kinder than most, and much kinder than he could have ever hoped for.

He stuffed his hands deep into his pockets and searched for words to explain the situation to Lily. "She knows," he stated plainly. Lily nodded, and he tried to continue, "so I don't blame her, but she just... That fact that she knows is obvious when she's around me, and it kind of makes me uncomfortable."

Remus should have guessed Lily would be confused. Thanks to her muggle upbringing and her kind spirit Lily had leapt pretty quickly from "Whoa Remus is a monster" to "Why the hell should I care if Remus is a werewolf… now Rem eat something before you fall over." So when she asked, "what do you mean?" he wasn't surprised.

"I mean-" He started nervously, "she stands nice and far away from me, doesn't talk to me, and tries desperately to reconcile her society's fabricated conception of werewolves with the reality in front of her, and it means she a bit, well, terse," Remus rattled off in one breath.

"She's mean to you." Lily surmised.

"No, she's just standoffish. It's not a big deal. I just don't want her to be more uncomfortable than she has to be, and she's obviously uncomfortable around me."

"So," Lily snapped, slamming her hand onto a kitchen counter. A spoon in nearby mug rattles and Remus was taken aback by the sharpness in her tone. Lily noticed his surprise because she continued with the same intensity. "Make her uncomfortable then. Stand right next to her. Talk about it until she gets that it has nothing to do with who you are."

"Lily you don't get it... in the wizarding world...she was raised with these-"

"Don't tell me that she's been raised with some-"

"You don't understand the deep-rooted prejudices-"

"I'm a muggle born Remus!"

"It's different."

They were talking over the top of one another until Lily yelled, "STOP JUSTIFYING OTHER PEOPLE'S PREDJUDICES!" and Remus snapped his mouth shut, not sure he wanted to respond. "You have to stop letting people have these opinions of you. They're lies, and I hate hearing them. James and Sirius and Peter hate hearing them, why don't you!"

Remus didn't have a chance to answer because at that moment the floo burst to life and out stepped Melinda Bones. She brushed ash from her long brown hair and dusted off her green healer's robes. "Lily, would you mind if I change in your spare bedroom? Came straight from work." He exhaled before tossing out a greeting.

"Course not," Lily responded. She let Remus shoot her and exasperated look, but didn't reply. The two woman hugged and started in on a rapid-fire catch-up, "How's Edgar," "What's James up to" How're the kids?" (Melinda was the mother of three amazing children, a second-year Gryffindor, a first-year Hufflepuff and an opinionated toddler) "Hows' the garden?" "The job?"

Remus kept his mouth shut and his eyes on the floor until Melinda left the room to change in the spare bedroom, taking no notice of his existence.

"Well, that was a warm welcome," Remus quipped quietly enough that Melinda had no chance of hearing.

"Shut up Remus I already believe you," Lily snapped.

"Just sharing."

Lily smacked his stomach as she went to sit at the kitchen table.

Remus leaned against the wall and waited.

Moments later Melinda stepped back into the Kitchen in black robes, looking ready to head out. "So where's Sirius, late as always, waiting for a grand entrance?" She joked.

Lily perked up at her chance to bring Remus into the conversation, Remus braced himself.

"Oh no, he's actually at the Ministry with James. Remus is on the team tonight."

Melinda faked a smile to mirror Lily's, "great" she tried to say, though it came out weak and uncertain.

"I promise to behave better than Sirius ever would," Remus tried to joke, but the only laughter was an uncomfortable chuckle from Lily.

"Let's pop to it then." Melinda decided without looking at him, and they were soon in the floo heading straight toward Knockturn Alley.

* * *

"I don't even know what that is." Sirius tilted the small household cleaning spell book Lily had given them the night before toward the light. "What's grout?" Sirius asked James, now that he was sure he hadn't misread the print.

"I dunno." James shrugged. "We had a house-elf growing up." He was too busy fiddling with the drawers of every desk in the Auror's office to care about cleaning spells.

Sirius dropped the book onto Agent Carlton's desk and tipped back in the chair where he had been lazily perched for a good fifteen minutes. "Found anything yet?" He asked over his shoulder.

James responded with a growl.

Sirius rocked back in the chair a few times then pulled out his wand and tapped the desk in front of him. It rippled, then shimmered as if newly polished. "Oh very nice," Sirius complimented himself.

"What?" James poked his head around the cubicle, sounding hopeful.

"Oh, nothing...just finally perfected that polishing spell."

James's face fell, and Sirius had to admit he didn't feel overly proud of himself when he compared the spell to the many days where they had spent searching the ministry and gathering no relevant information for the Order.

James disappeared again and for awhile all Sirius heard was the rattling of desk drawers.

"Do you think you could pick this lock?" James finally called. Sirius let the feet of his chair slam to the ground and he perked up, interested.

"You can't?" Sirius wondered as he followed James's voice to a small, gloomy cubicle. Not that many of the small offices were cheery, but this one was completely devoid of personal effects. There were no pictures, comics, vendetta boards, or even newspaper clippings, the desk was almost bare and the chair looked worn with age. The ambiance sent a chill down Sirius's spine.

James stood in the middle of the space, his hazel eyes peering through his lenses at the bottom desk drawer as if they intensity of his stare could will it open.

"That one?" Sirius asked unnecessarily.

"Somethin' weird about it. Might need your special dark magic expertise. It reminds me of the lock we tried to pick on your mom's drawer the summer after second-year." James poked his wand at the desk drawer once more, and with a flick of his wrist, angry green sparks erupted from the brass handle. Both young men took nervous steps back until the hissing and sputtering subsided.

"Whoa. Yeah, let me give it a try, nothign dangerous here." James gave him an unimpressed glance and Sirius edge closer to the drawer. He knelt down and looked at the type and style of the desk, wiggled the handle of the drawer then tried, "alohamora?"

"Really?" James mocked.

"Had to try, generic secondary spells would be the next best-" Sirius mumbled on as he pressed his wand to the lock and tried a few more spells, certain James had already gone through a few of them as he was shaking his head from behind. "It's probably password protected we'll have to break in through a curse-breaking hex," Sirius mumbled. He stood up and matched James's glare with one of his own.

"We can do that," James reminded. "I mean between the two of us and our combined knowledge of curse breaking we can do that." He cocked his head to the side and thought about it.

"Why do we want in this drawer specifically?" Sirius wondered. He poked around atop the sparsely covered desk looking for a name until his finger brushed the thick paper of an envelope. He flipped it over to see the address label. "Harrington." The reason dawned on him "Oh." He took a step back and stared pensively at the desk. "Auror department should have already cleaned this desk out. Even the locked drawer. They would be looking for evidence…for you know..."

"Harrington's sudden evil-doing," James offered up.

"Yeah."

"Maybe they already did," James reasoned.

"All the good stuff will be gone then."

"Maybe not, we know every anti-hiding charm in the book. We discovered tunnels in Hogwarts that Dumbledore doesn't know about. If there's a way into that drawer and then a hidden drawer inside that, we will find it."

Sirius nodded in agreement. "Let's do this then."

It took another three hours of their shift and a dictionary of colorful cuss words to find the perfect combination of spells, to open the drawer and then reveal a false bottom, but they did it. The charm, finally broken, made the wood at the bottom of the drawer glisten for an instant then disappear. Sirius grinned over his shoulder and punched one fist into the air. "Got it!" he cheered.

James shushed him then looked over Sirius's shoulder into the newly discovered space. "What's in there?"

Sirius reached out and pulled up a stack of fairly new parchment. "Reports," he mumbled in response. He handed half the stack back to James, "look over these. I'll get the others."

They had barely begun scanning the files when Sirius breathed out, "kidnappings." He stared at the pile of papers in his hands. Seventeen faces all blinked back at him from the soft yellow paper.

"Kidnappings?" James asked. "Moody, Frank, and Alice never mentioned those."

James was right. Sirius scanned the faces, many of the people listed there hadn't been mentioned at Order meetings. "Do you think they know about them?" Sirius wondered aloud.

"It's in Harrington's super secret, secret stash, it might be beyond their clearance."

"Beyond Moody's clearance? How's that possible?" A door opened at the end of the hall. James jerked, and Sirius nearly flew out of his chair. Two set of hands reached for their wands.

"Who do you think it is?" James whispered.

"Dunno," Sirius stashed the papers quickly into an inner pocket of his robe and kicked the drawer shut. He pulled out his wand, dredged up the first cleaning spell he could think of and waved his wand at Harrington's desk.

James did the same, and when what turned out to be an indifferent security wizard trudged by with nothing more than a wave, they relaxed, but Sirius didn't dare pull the folder from his pocket. They would have to look deeper into the files later.

* * *

"So what do we need for these potions?" Lily wondered leaning over Melinda's shoulder to get a better view of the list she had scribbled down earlier that day.

"Everything," Melinda mumbled, almost to herself.

"Well we'll need to start at Dark Material's, then we can pop over to the stand that sells fresher materials." Melinda made a face but knew that's where they needed to go, whether she wanted to or not. "Remus how about you wait outside, a bit of a guard?"

"Oh, no. It's fine. He can go in with you." Lily insisted as soon as they were at the front door of the apothecary.

Melinda froze for the briefest of seconds and Remus could feel the color rising on his cheeks. He wished for a swift injury to get him out of the awkward situation.

"Yeah, why don't you," Melinda tried to smooth over before Remus could backtrack and reject Lily's suggestion. He already knew Lily wouldn't allow it. She was already shooting him death glares behind Melinda's back.

"Yeah, great." He lied and managed to glare at Lily one more time before they stepped into the dark building.

The shop's facade made it look small, but as soon as they entered Remus could see that aisles stretched out in sharp rows in each direction. It smelled of burnt cinnamon and sour milk, a violent combination that made his stomach churn. The young woman behind the desk popped red gum between her teeth and didn't bother to look up when they entered. As Remus looked closer and saw that every shelf was covered in a thin layer of dust.

Melinda didn't dally in the entryway but nodded and pointed him to the left. She ripped a piece off of her long list and handed it to him. "Get these, and we'll meet back here." She instructed. So they would be splitting up? Remus was certain he would be fine alone in the store but was a little disappointed that Melinda wasn't even going to pretend to spend time with him.

He slipped into the first long aisle in order to find the three ingredients she had insisted he get. The row was a confusing mess of objects and ingredients with no logical pattern. Certainly, the organization had something to do with the type of potion they were used in, but despite his best efforts potions was not his strongest subject, and the organization was a confusing slurry.

By luck, he found a basket on the bottom shelf filled to the brim with the Vermeil fangs he had been looking for, but the hazel blood was elusive as ever. Hadn't Melinda said earlier that day that it would be near the fangs? Remus checked the bin to the right and left of the basket then slowly began reading every label on the shelf above it. He had gotten to the third shelf when a pair of shoppers, as equally frustrated as himself stopped in the next aisle over. Remus felt momentarily vindicated, it wasn't just him having trouble finding what he wanted, but a second later he realized the voices weren't upset about interior decorating or shelf structure. The two voices were arguing about much more sinister matters.

"You can't keep sending me out on school nights!"

"It's a simple task Regulus- " Remus lost his breath, Regulus Black and Avery were there, in the next row over. Newly freed from Azkaban and snapping directions at Regulus Black. "No need to owl me with every little problem. Do you think the Dark Lord will jump every time you can't finish a simple task? No! He'll kill you." Remus heard Avery slam a jar back onto the top shelf and drop a handful of something small and clinking into Regulus's basket.

"I can't buy werewolf blood without paperwork." Regulus insisted.

Remus felt himself shiver in disgust. Werewolf blood wasn't only a restricted ingredient. It was borderline illegal.

"Lie," Avery hissed. "Just make up something. Sweet talk the prissy cashier, buy it black market, just don't whine to me every time something is hard. We have to feed these stupid creatures something, by tomorrow, or it's both of our heads."

Regulus toughened up, "Fine. I'll have it for you tomorrow."

"You better." Avery spat then stalked off before Regulus could say anything else.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Regulus cussed into the shelf. Remus stepped out of his reverie and looked at his hand; it had stopped over a bottle of Hinkeypuck hair. He pulled his hand away with a new, sour feeling for potions ingredients.

Unfortunately, he still needed to find the blood and teeth for Melinda's potion. He took a step back; perhaps a wider view would help him find them. He had just scanned the top shelf when something flickered at the corner of his eye. He turned quickly, and Regulus spun around the tight aisle corner and knocked straight into him. Remus stumbled, and everything from their baskets fell to the floor and skittered across the dusty wood.

"Shit," The young man cried, whipping out his wand and dropping quickly to his knees to clear up the mess he had made. He seemed tense, prepared to defend himself against attack.

Instead of throwing a curse, as Regulus cleary expected, Remus automatically knelt to help. He scooped a handful of small worm looking rings into his hands before Regulus noticed what was going on. He froze, then slowly, warily, looked up; confusion was etched on every inch of his face. People didn't talk to one another in Knockturn alley, and they certainly didn't help one another pick up a mess they had created.

Remus realized this too late, he was on his knees helping and couldn't backtrack now. He couldn't threaten to curse Regulus or push him into a wall, whatever it was that dark wizards did as punishment in a back corner of an apothecary. He had to keep going.

Regulus saved him. "Sorry," he mumbled, looking back down at the floor and slowly scooping a few more lost ingredients into his hand.

Remus didn't respond. He had forgotten how much like his brother Regulus looked. How much his features mirrors Sirius's. Only the thin frown and the constant weight of being a Death Eater really drew out the differences in their appearances.

"Don't worry about it." Remus couldn't stay quiet, couldn't not offer an olive branch to a kid who genuinely didn't expect someone to help him clean up a mess, but rather anticipated a fight. Remus dropped his own handful of ingredients into his basket and caught Regulus readying his grip on his wand. The young man finally looked up, caught Remus's eye as realization dawned on him. "Remus?" he wondered. He pocketed his wand with relief, and Remus swept another handful of shells into his hands.

"How are you Regulus?" Remus asked quietly. "How's Hogwarts, must be about time for NEWTS?" He couldn't think of any better questions to ask. How are you, hows the killing business these days, seemed inappropriate.

Regulus swallowed and tried to answer a few times before saying, "It's alright." He looked around himself, and Remus wondered what he was thinking, wondered if Regulus was trying to find out why he was here and if he had heard the previous conversation. "Spending far too much time at a warehouse in the bricks to study though..." He finished in a shaky voice.

"It's never too late..." Remus said quietly, but he didn't say "to drop out, to switch sides." Regulus knew what he meant, Remus could see it in the flicker of grey eyes that too much like Sirius's.

Remus dropped the last handful of shells into Regulus's basket and rose to his feet. Regulus followed. The young man batted his attention around, and Remus wondered if there was something more the 18-year-old wanted to say. Regulus took in a breath and almost had a word out before, "Remus let's hurry!" Remus turned to see Melinda at the end of the aisle marching his way and looking determined.

When he turned back around Regulus had disappeared.

"Of course," Remus said lamely.

"Did you find what you needed?" She asked quickly.

Remus looked down at the bucket of Vermit fangs on the ground. "Not everything," He admitted. She looked in his basket, sighed and helped him locate the last ingredient.

The woman at the checkout barely looked at them as she rung them up. Remus suspected that around Knockturn Alley no one looked too closely at their fellow shoppers. They packed the paper bags with their potions ingredients into their pockets and slipped back into the street. Even at night, the street seemed brighter than the murky shop. It was bewildering.

Lily sidled up next to him as they sped off to the next stop on Melinda's list. "Got everything?" Lily asked.

Remus jerked his head "no." "Melinda had to help me. Saw Regulus in there though." He let the admission fall out of his mouth, sounding breathless and bewildered.

Lily's eyebrows rose in surprise.

"He's hitting the pavement for the Death Eaters." Remus added quietly, "Might not pass his NEWTs. At least not as well as he should... He may be a Death Eater, but he was always a smart kid. Deserves better."

"That's what you care about?" Lily deadpanned. "Sirius's kid brother could be killing people, and you're worried he's not going to pass his NEWTs?"

Remus shrugged, what else was there to do? "I guess? Is that wrong?"

Lily leaned into him and stared ahead, thinking over it. "I dunno." She realized sadly.

* * *

Although usually a busy place, the Auror's office had actually quieted since the war began, not in activity, but in superfluous meandering around the halls. Altogether, the war had increased late-night security it decreased the number of people dropping into the office in the middle of the night to do paperwork or check or the schedule. After the security wizard, the only other people James and Sirius saw were the few Aurors stumbling back after guard duty or raids. Otherwise, the West office spaces were quiet, and morning arrived quickly.

Sirius yawned deeply and dropped his hands into his pockets. "Good work Prongs, I believe we are off shift in…" Sirius looked up at the large lobby clock and almost felt satisfied with a job well done, "now?" he squinted at the minute hand at it ticked to 6 am. James blew out a puff of air, patted his friend's shoulder and together they headed out by means of a back elevator. They were slumping down a deserted stone hallway on the first floor when Sirius suddenly realized he had left his Cloak lying draped over Harrington's old desk. His face knitted in a mask of horrified realization. "Prongs, I left my cloak in Harrington's office." He groaned.

James cursed, "really?"

"Sorry."

"Whatever. We'll go back and grab it." James slowed his walk and turned, "let's go then."

The pair booked it back toward the Auror offices, slipped around dozens of surely looking officers and skidding to a halt outside of Harrington's cubicle. James stood guard, leaning lazily up against the wall to the office trying to look inconspicuous while Sirius snatched his lost item.

They didn't particularly like being in the office during regular hours. James recognized several of the Aurors, and he knew they recognized him. He hoped any discomfort the Aurors noticed in him could be passed off as embarrassment for being caught in janitor robes despite his cocky attitude and high grades at Hogwarts.

It took half a second for Sirius to snatch his cloak bump James's shoulder and lead the way back to the exit. They were only a few steps from large wooden door when James's heart stopped. The minister of magic himself was standing at the water cooler sipping the icy water he and Sirus had been goofing off with a few hours ago. The man smiled warmly at the Auror chatting with him then asked a short question. Behind him, his secretary scribbled away on a notepad looking small and wiry behind a square pair of glasses. James worried what the minister might be up to in the office. His presence here couldn't be a rare occurrence, and he didn't seem distressed, but James was still curious, and he couldn't count on Moody telling him anything about it later.

James slapped Sirius's stomach, trying to get him to slow down as they passed so that he could absorb as much information as possible.

"Interesting that you would mention that Cordelia, I have actually been worried about increased security in relation to our food system." The minister chirped, and James realized he might not be gathering any juicy information in the near future.

"Holy shit." Sirius hissed. James was so focussed on the minister that it took Sirius punching him in the arm before he looked closely at the two people flanking him. He scrunched up his face trying to make a connection. He glanced at Sirius, then back at the small group of people, then finally realized with a jolt that Auror on the Minister's right had been one of the faces on the pages from Harrington's office. He was one of the kidnapped victims.

"Oh my-"

"Whoa-"

"A Black?" James and Sirius's bewilderment was cut off with the same delicacy of being tossed into ice water. "Black?" The voice repeated with an underlying chuckle, "I heard we had ventured into interesting hiring territories, but a traitor and a possible arsonist? What kind of scum have we sunk to?" Sirius bit his lip, of course, Mulciber would have heard that the Lestrange's shed of horrors had burned down the previous year and that the finger had been unofficially (though correctly) aimed at him.

James and Sirius spun around and found themselves face to face not with the 17-year-old Mulciber of their Hogwarts days, but the sneering bearded man he had become. And that man was wearing the full official regalia of a junior Minister of Law. James choked, and Sirius felt bile rise in his throat. "Oh isn't this delicious. Janitors robes. . . How the mighty have fallen."

"Someone needs to scrub up the slime you leave in your wake, Mulciber," Sirius growled. "I consider myself to be doing a public favor."

"Someone needs to protect the Aurors from your filth," James bit.

Mulciber's eyebrows creased together and James felt the flames of rage burn up in his chest. If they were anywhere else, he would have cursed his old school rival to the end of the building and back. He had been studying with Moody, his odds were good, but they were currently pinched between the minister of magic and a wall of maroon-clad Aurors. They needed to slip away, more than they needed to fight.

James saw Sirius's hand twitch in desire of his wand, but before he could move James deftly pulled the back of his robe, a warning. The last thing Sirius needed was to be arrested with classified information stuffed in his pockets. He nudged him toward the door, and they left together, making sure not to look over their shoulders. Mulciber didn't merit any more of their time.

* * *

"So what do we think it means?" Sirius asked after retelling the details of the previous night's events to Lily and Peter, the only people he could dredge up for a conversation. When they had gotten back to Godric's Hollow James and Sirius had gone over all of the possibilities, and had come up short. James had gone upstairs to take a nap before he was due to meet Dedalus Diggle that afternoon and Sirius was left alone with a kettle of tea in the kitchen and a dozen unanswerable questions. Lily had come down not much later and Peter wandered into the house to get lunch, ask if anyone had seen Remus, and drop off a stack of books he had picked up from the ministry for Lily. Lily hadn't seen his friend since their shift with Melinda had ended, uneventfully, a few hours before. Before they could leave to go look for him, Sirius, with a dozen different ploys, refused to let them leave the kitchen, feeling an overwhelming need to needle them for answers.

"I think it means…. There were kidnappings," Peter repeated knowingly, pointing out the obvious.

"Thanks, Pete, truly enlightening, as always," Sirius sighed, slumping into a kitchen chair.

"Always here to help," He replied into a mug of tea Sirius had thrust at him to delay his exit.

"Do we know who is being kidnapped or why? It could just be a routine Auror investigation," Lily tried.

"Aurors are, by definition, dark wizard catchers. Even if it was routine the trail still ends with a dark wizard," Sirius reminded.

"Fair enough. So have you bothered asking Moody or the Longbottoms about this yet?"

Sirius blinked at the far wall. "No," he realized. Slowly coming to terms with the fact that he had only slept 5 hours in the last two days. Maybe he did need some sleep? He plowed on anyway "This folder was in a locked drawer in Harrington's office. They wouldn't know about it! One of the names was Rutherford. Diggle mentioned him a few weeks ago at a meeting. That's where the crossover is. He can't have been kidnapped though because we saw him on our way out, talking to the minister."

"Well then the papers are wrong, and Rutherford wasn't kidnapped by a death eater." Lily shrugged.

"She's not wrong," Peter agreed, obviously trying to end the discussion.

"Don't just blindly agree with Lily," Sirius grumbled.

"I'm not." Peter sighed, then relented, "I believe something weird is going on. We should look into it."

"Thank you."

"So are you bringing it to the next Order meeting?" Peter asked. Sirius nodded.

"Hopefully they'll have something more insightful to say," Peter encouraged.

Sirius didn't feel particularly optimistic. He fiddled with the edge of the paper, realized he wasn't getting any more out of Lily and Peter (they were making "let's sneak out now" eyes over his head) then stood up to leave. Maybe he could find someone else to talk to or at least a bar to sit and think in peace at.


	6. Chapter 6: Werewolves and Worries

The Aurors, it turned out, knew nothing about the kidnappings, and May slid slowly into June without any new information. James and Sirius' shifts at the ministry began to wane as the sympathizer who hired them started getting complaints about color bombs and whistling quills popping up in unusual places. Nothing had been swept or dusted in weeks, and the unemptied rubbish bins were starting to smell. With all of this going on during a rough time in the Auror Department their contact couldn't afford to offer them any more shifts.

Meanwhile, Sirius waited to find a new angle from which to root out Crier. Which meant more research from Remus's couch and less time spent beating the bricks. Though that often disintegrated into not researching. When staring at books, Sirius's mind would begin to wander.

"What do you think of the new girl?" He asked Remus, who was doing his best to clean around Sirius as his friend aimed to take up as much space as possible on the living room couch. His feet were sprawled on the coffee table, his arms were bent over the back of the couch, and a dozen unopened books and bottles of half-finished butter beers littered every surface.

"Who?" Remus asked as he levitated bottles to the rubbish bin, "Marlene or Mary?" He directed a broom to knock into Sirus's shin. "Could you move?"

"Oh, right," Sirius said, seeming genuinely surprised that someone would be cleaning. He folded his legs up under him on the couch and leaned forward to grab his drink off the table. "Marlene," he answered.

"She was good in Charms, if I remember correctly. She tried out for Quidditch but didn't make it onto the team. She was going for chaser, but those spots were obviously all filled." Remus wandered back into the kitchen with the plate Peter had left on a side table earlier in the day. "I remember her bragging to her friends that she had passed her Apparation test on the first go, and I believe she scored well on her OWLs." Remus popped back into the living room. "She continued with quite a few classes…"

Sirius stared at his friend as he rattled off a dozen facts.

"No. I mean as a person, not as a statistic on a sheet. What do you think of her?" He pressed.

It was Remus's turn to look genuinely surprised. He hadn't realized that Sirius was more worried about how someone was than what skills they were going to contribute to the Order.

"Oh, umm. She seems. . . Likable?" Remus tried.

"She seems blonde," Sirius explained as if talking to a seven-year-old.

Remus groaned when he finally figured out where Sirius was going with his comments. He took the opportunity to turn his back on Sirius and walk back into the kitchen to empty the dish drainer.

"She would be perfect for you!" Sirius called after him, undeterred. "She's nice, and kind of tough, and she laughs like a bell."

"And I'm not dating, Sirius," Remus yelled back.

"I know you're not dating me! That's why I'm setting you up with her." Sirius said, intentionally mistaking Remus's meaning for his own purposes. Remus sighed and didn't answer.

"Is that a 'yes' for dinner?" Sirius asked. A cabinet slammed shut somewhere behind him. "I'll take that to mean I can set you up on a date." Sirius smirked to himself. "After you look alive again after the full moon, of course," he finished. "How's Wednesday?"

* * *

"You okay, Jamie?" Sirius asked. James stood rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yeah," James mumbled. "Certainly better off than him." He motioned over his shoulder to Remus who was still lying on the floor of the old shed that they now transformed in.

Sirius stepped around James and leaned down to Remus's side. The werewolf hadn't woken yet, and indeed it didn't look like he was planning on it anytime soon.

"Moony," Sirius tried to sound upbeat, but Remus wasn't looking good. He gently pressed a hand into Remus's arm. Pressed just enough so he would feel it, but not enough to hurt him. He considered turning back into Padfoot. Remus always seemed cheerier when he awoke to a dog licking his face.

"We could carry him out of here," Peter suggested. He was doing his best to wrap Remus's gnawed on hand in a thick layer of gauze without getting sick. He looked a little green, and Sirius felt bad that he and James had yet to perfect their medical charms. Peter was always one step ahead, so they let him take point on helping Remus after the full moon, even if it made the other man more than a little queasy.

"We could carry him out-" Sirius agreed, "but when he wakes up on a stretcher he'll never forgive us." He moved his hand from Remus's arm to his face and patted his cheek. Though his hands landed on the scars from his January transformation, there were no new ones from last night, and Sirius felt relieved about that. Remus spent enough time trying to hide the scars he already had, he didn't want him to have to cover any new gashes as well. "Moony." He patted his cheek. "Moony, we've got to get you out of this hot, nasty shed, preferably before complete daylight… Moony." Another light tap on his cheek.

The werewolf cracked open an eyelid and groaned before his raw throat fought back, and he coughed. Rolled into Sirius and cursed into the floorboards choking on his throbbing throat. The wolf had been angry about being trapped, especially after a few months of running free with the packs and had howled for hours.

Sirius held Remus against him until he gasped in an unhindered breath, then let out a stream of words Sirius didn't usually associate with his mild-mannered friend.

"That was a beautifully colorful phrase there Moony," Sirius noted, nonchalantly. Remus tried to curl into a ball, got halfway there an gave up. Sirius's voice dropped to a calming tone. "You're fine Moony. Prongs and Wormtail are here with me. You're gonna be alright… Do you know where you're at?" Remus nodded a fraction of an inch, and Sirius motioned for James to join him. "Can we sit you up?" Remus didn't answer for several seconds, and when he finally did, his yes was tinted with foreboding. James knelt next to Sirius and Remus reached up with his bandaged hand. James grabbed his wrist, put his other hand under his arm and together he and Sirius wrenched him off the floor and into a sitting position.

The werewolf hissed through his teeth as they leaned him against the shed's thin wall. Peter crouched down next to him, and Sirius left a bracing arm on his other side.

It took a moment before Remus cracked open his eyes again. He ran his long dirty fingers through his hair and breathed in a few times, trying to stop the involuntary shaking in his limbs. "Feel' 'ikebrok'aneffingcking'ib," he groaned.

"What was that?"

"He said he thinks he broke an effing rib," Peter translated.

"Probably did," Sirius mumbled, though he didn't want to move his friend's ragged robe to confirm. It had been dark when they had first draped it over him, so they hadn't seen any bruising, but Sirius seemed to remember a rather fierce wrestling match the night before. They had been too cooped up in the shed. Too confined. The wolf was getting restless, and if he was honest with himself, so was Sirius. He yearned for the days of running free through the forbidden forest, chasing critters and winding up exhausted and winded at the weeping willow the next morning.

There was no time to dwell.

"Come on we'll get you fixed up better once we get out of this ruddy dark shed," Sirius coaxed. He reached out under Remus's left arm and James grabbed for his right. Remus gritted his teeth and let them pull him up onto unsteady footing.

They stood for a second then Remus wavered, twisted his hands into Sirius's cloak and dropped. Sirius barely caught him, swearing as he did so. He looked to James, surprised, even Remus's full weight was nothing. Holding him these days was like holding a single sheet of paper.

Sirius readjusted and looked over just to make sure Remus hadn't completely blacked out on them.

"Moony, you still with us," Sirius asked, trying to see Remus's face through his hair. "Wormtail is he still awake?"

Peter hurried over from the back of the shed where he was gathering the rest of their belongings from under the loose floorboard. He dipped around James and pushed Remus's hair away from his forehead.

Sirius could see Remus's grey eyes were only half open.

"Still there," Peter told Sirius with a half smile. Then to Remus, "Home?" The werewolf leaned into Peter's hand, knowing he would find comfort there. "I think he stood up too fast," Peter mumbled in explanation.

He stepped away from them and let Remus's head drop back down. He turned to unlock the doors with a quick series of spells while Remus gathered himself back up.

Sirius squinted against the grey morning light that streamed in. He balked at the muggy June air. He was very glad they were getting out of the shed before the Sun could get much higher in the sky and burn them out of the building.

"Come on, wolf-man-" Sirius said, hoisting Remus back up over his shoulder, "let's go find you a nice comfy couch."

* * *

They easily apparated back to the apartment. Remus bothered to open his eyes for a half second, to make sure the room was safe, then quickly shut them and fell into the couch gratefully.

Peter arrived a split second after them. "I got the shed shut tight," he said and dropped their now almost empty bag of necessities onto an empty chair. "He pass out?"

Before Sirius or James could answer, Remus groaned.

"Can I try to fix your rib before you're gone from this world?"

Remus responded with an almost affirmative groan.

Peter glanced quickly at James and Sirius who both shrugged. "Take that as a 'yes' then," Peter said.

"You think you can fix him up? We have an order meeting tonight." Sirius reminded quietly.

Peter looked dubious then said, "Yeah. I think so." He glanced over at Remus and amended, "hopefully."

He took a seat on the coffee table managing to only knock a few books to the ground as he did so. He reached out and pulled away Remus's cloak to get a better look at his side.

Sirius only got a brief glimpse of a deep purple bruise before looking away.

"We'll go make some tea," James suggested. He tugged on Sirius's wrist and pulled him toward the kitchen.

James and Sirius only heard slight cursing and groaning as they left the room. Sirius turned his attention to James who was pressing two fingers into his neck, desperately trying to work out a deep pain that had settled there.

"Need me to try and fix that?" Sirius asked.

"Huh?"

Sirius motioned to his neck, and James pulled his hand away from his own, seemingly surprised to find it there.

"No I'm fine, just stressed... and getting old I think." James tried to fake a laugh.

"Ancient," Sirius agreed. "19 going on 60."

James nodded and sighed. They turned their attention to the kitchen. It felt empty without its usual post-full moon attendant. Lily was almost always there, boiling tea, organizing snacks, nervously reading a paper and stress cooking three potions at once.

They both looked around the empty space. It felt disparaging not to see her.

"When's Lily getting back then?" Sirius asked.

"Noon. I think. She and Alice were doing something for Dumbledore."

"Sexy infiltration somewhere?" Sirius wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"I would be insulted if Dumbledore didn't choose us for such an activity," James huffed.

"We are the most delicious pieces of ass in the order." Sirius noted. Then looked over at James, "Get the Lily daydream out of your head. I can see it plastered all over you."

James shook himself.

"Huh. Yeah sure."

Sirius groaned.

"We making tea or not?"

"Tea it is," James said, "Now, where the hell does Remus keep the tea?"

Sirius looked around, despite taking up residence in the apartment half the time, he still hadn't acquainted himself with the kitchen, preferring to order out or rely on Remus to burn dinner for them both. "Um, Somewhere around here. . ." Sirius said.

"You mean somewhere in the kitchen?" James smirked.

"Yes. I do." Sirius pulled open a cabinet at random but was surprised to see only bare counters. "Okay, not that one." He opened another, but it was as bare as the first. "Odd…must have moved everything," Sirius reasoned. He pulled open the next cabinet, but that one held only a few mugs and a cracked saucer. Three more cabinets later and James and Sirius found themselves staring at the last empty shelf.

"Strange question-" James started, "but have we been making sure Remus has food to eat?"

"Well, you and Lily are in charge of rent," Sirius ticked off his finger, "and I'm in charge of booze and girls… oh right, maybe Peter's in charge of food?"

"Peter doesn't live here," James reminded.

"Neither do I!" Sirius defended himself.

"You have a ransacked flat on the other side of town that you're never at. You basically live here," James deadpanned.

"Point taken." Sirius stared at the bare shelves. "We really fucked up on this one." He scratched the back of his head and tried to come up with a plan.

"Yeah…Well for today, I guess I'll go to the store?" James decided with an exhausted sigh.

"He'll be really embarrassed when he realizes he let us into his empty kitchen."

"He'll just have to suck it up," James said. "I'll be back in a flash." James sighed, and walked out of the kitchen. Sirius was left standing alone as Remus let out one more pained gasp from the living room.

"Got it," Peter said, relieved. Remus groaned, and Sirius walked back into the living room to check that he was okay.

By the time James returned, Remus was fast asleep and couldn't care less about tea. James and Sirius, however, felt much better about the packed pantry and cabinets. James had even gone to Honeydukes to pick up a large block of their finest chocolate hoping it would both cheer Remus up, and make him ignore the fact that he once again needed James's charity.

* * *

Sirius flicked another page of the book and held the picture up for James to see. It was a gaudy merwoman stylized in the way that only someone who had never seen a mermaid- and in fact had only vaguely heard about them from a half-blind foreigner- could have created.

James cracked into a roar of laughter that continued until Peter poked his head back into the room from the kitchen.

"You realize Moony is still trying to sleep, don't you?"

James and Sirius turned to look at Peter with a mix of surprise and amusement before peeling into another round of laughter. Peter half growled, and quickly went back to the lunch he was preparing. He wouldn't be blamed if Remus woke up.

The pair's laughter turned to snickers just in time to hear Remus say, "Is fine. I miss it."

"Miss what, Loony Moony?" Sirius asked still grinning wildly. It seemed to him that Remus was talking nonsense.

"Waking up to you idiots making noise. Even if it does give me the world's most splitting headache." Remus inhaled sharply. He reached out one roughed up hand. His eyes were still shut, but when Sirius pressed a bottle of pain potion into his hand, he expertly popped the cork and swallowed back the whole bottle.

"You feeling any better?"

"Better than I would be waking up on the cold forest floor surrounded by similarly beaten up werewolves."

James caught Sirius's eye. The slip of the tongue was unusual. Remus was incredibly tight-lipped about his missions.

Sirius's smile dropped, and James could feel his stomach twist. For so long he had been jealous of Remus's extra field work. He hadn't stopped to consider what living with werewolves really meant.

On the bare beaten down couch, Remus looked peaceful, content, even as scratched up and bruised as he was. It scared James to the core to think that this kind of torture could be preferable to anything.

But it was.

It was preferable to being alone, and cold and hungry in the woods. He watched his friend in horror until Remus's face scrunched in sudden disgust. He reached out and smacked the closest person, Sirius, before pushing himself up.

"I'm gonna be sick."

Sirius fumbled to engorge a nearby mug just in time for Remus to lose what little food had been left over in his stomach from the day before.

"Shit Moony," Sirius moaned, pushing back Remus's brown hair with his free hand.

Remus's only reply was a weak apology before retching again.

By the time he was done, he looked paler and shakier than James had seen him since his mother's death almost a year before. He didn't move just held himself up with every ounce of his strength.

Peter appeared from nowhere holding a glass of water and Sirius left the room to deal with the large mug of sick.

"Gross Moony," they heard him whine from the bathroom. Not even a flicker of a smile appeared on the werewolf's face as he took the cup of water from Peter's hand and took a swig.

"I feel awful."

"Well matches how you look, mate." James tried to joke. Remus's hand shook as he handed the glass back to Peter. James reached out and helped Remus settle back into the couch.

"You should just sleep," James suggested, and Remus couldn't muster up a response. James pulled the blanket back up over Remus's shoulders and slouched onto the ground at his side. This was horrible. How had he missed so much? He felt like with every one of Remus's missions a piece of him was being deleted. He was forgetting what life was like for his friend.

Sirius came back into the room and dropped down next to him. They shared a worried look, and then Sirius said, "We should get some sleep too, Moody gave us the day off, but I'm scouting with Fabian tonight."

James nodded.

"Peter's finishing up lunch then we'll sort something out."

As if on cue the fourth marauder came back into the room holding a plate of sandwiches. He sat down in his favorite chair and dug into the meal.

"Are you up to anything tonight Wormy?" Sirius asked as he picked the bread off the top of a sandwich, peeled out the meat and nibbled on it.

Peter swallowed and answered wearily,

"Yeah, Mundungus said something about a fishery up North. Smugglers, but I'm honestly not sure anymore if this is Order business or personal business."

Sirius smirked, and James said,

"Well Lily'll be home soon, and she said she'd help us keep an eye on Moony. I think I can cover half the night too, I'm not scheduled until early morning. We're guarding that muggle-borns house out in Fairview."

"Damn, we're still watching her?" Sirius frowned.

"Threat's still real. We're trying to relocate them, but her husband's ministry, it's making it difficult to find a good hiding place."

"It's disgusting that they're even being targeted," Sirius spat.

James silently agreed, but there was nothing they could do. The Death Eaters were attacking Muggle-borns, and if they were outspoken or married to Ministry personal, that only increased the targets on their backs.

"I'll take first shift watching him if you both want to sleep after lunch," James offered. He reached out and picked up his own sandwich.

Sirius and Peter nodded and continued eating. The threesome sat silently around the coffee table chewing quietly and listening to Remus's slow, steady breathing, tensing every time it hitched.

* * *

Sirius, or rather Padfoot was asleep at the foot of the couch. Peter had begun to doze off in his chair, and the last man standing, James was flipping through a defense magic book, trying to keep his eyes open, when there was a knock on the door so loud that James nearly felt his skeleton jump from his skin.

He was on his feet in a second, wand at the ready. Sirius was at his side in a blink. Shaking off his Padfoot disguise and trying to steady his sleepy footing.

"Who's there?" James demanded.

"Alastor Moody. Now put yer bloody wand down and open the door."

Sirius and James both settled, though their hearts were pounding in their chests. Peter stepped over the table to check on Remus, who had woken briefly, and James moved toward the door.

"Where were we the first time we met?" James demanded through the door.

"Dumbledore's office. During your Seventh year," Moody said. His deep voice, though growling gave James a strange sense of calm. His voice was familiar, if unusual at Remus's residence.

James unhooked the latch on the door and opened it to the stern face of their trainer and Order leader.

"Auror Moody," James greeted.

"Potter, Black." He nodded at each of them in turn, then let his eyes wandered further into the room. Both magical and normal landed on Remus, "How's Lupin?"

"He's alright," Peter answered for them. Remus was sitting up, and Peter was handing him another bottle from their stash of pain potions. Remus downed it greedily.

James watched the Auror closely. He was never quite sure where Moody stood on Remus being a werewolf. He kept it a secret, protected him, but he kept his distance. Of course, he kept his distance from all of them. He treated Remus no differently than he treated the rest of them, and that was something.

Moody made some type of affirmative noise then nodded toward the hall, "Potter and Black, we need to talk."

James looked over his shoulder to Sirius who was stealing himself. Something James couldn't quite put his finger on was going through his friend's head. Anger, revulsion, fear? He didn't know. He looked over to Peter. The man waved them on. He would stay with Remus.

James cast Sirius a questioning glance, silent communication, then followed Moody into the hall. He could hear Sirius's grudging footsteps right behind him.

They stepped into the carpeted hall with some trepidation and shut the door behind them. It would have to be important for the Auror to call in them on a full moon day. He always gave them the benefit of at least eight hours before calling them to duty. He knew, and he understood more than most what the day after the full moon meant to them. Similarly, if something horrible had happened- a death or attack- he would have told them all at the same time. What could be going on now was a mystery to James.

They started down the hall, and Moody cut to the chase, "We need to send you out. You're the best fit for the job, the most qualified, and unfortunately, the only people free right now."

"Where to?" James asked. "I'm going out with Fabian tonight. Tracking down some people Rochester's been after."

"Rochester's been moved, his contacts lost."

James blinked. The head of the Auror department had been moved? Moved where? They needed someone strong in charge of the Auror department, especially at a time like this and no one was stronger than Rochester.

"Where-" before he could finish his question Moody cut in with the curt explanation,

"he's private security for the minister now." He did not seem happy about the news.

"What? Why now? In the middle of a war?"

They stopped a few steps down the hall in the out-of-the-way alcove where they usually apparated from, and Moody turned toward him.

"The Minister is afraid. He wants the best of the best near him."

"Or someone is trying to destabilize the Auror department," Sirius grumbled.

Moody didn't dignify his complaint with an answer.

"Anyone set to replace him?" James asked, and when Moody didn't answer James began to wonder if Sirius's assertion was right. Without a leader, they were weaker. Confused. Stuck in a holding pattern until someone else came along to organize them.

"So I'm not heading out with Fabian?" James carried on.

"Fabian's with Gideon right now," Moody said. "Out near Crew, looking into a theft spree involving some dark objects. You'll be going to the Rue Downs, instead."

"The trash heap?" Sirius scoffed.

James had the same question. All magical waste disposal was managed at the Rue Downs. It was Hundreds of miles of hidden land near a muggle wasteland Somewhere north of London.

"Why?" James wondered.

"The Lestranges have been seen there. They're after something, and we want to know what. We just want intel, no movement, no attacking. Simply reconnaissance. I trust you can handle that?"

James jerked a nod. It wasn't a great time, but it never would be.

"And we have to do this today?" Sirius double checked. "I mean, it's just my daft cousin and her idiot husband. We can get to them any day."

"It's new information, and we're worried about a possible meet-up there at dusk. I wouldn't do this if it weren't impo-" Moody was cut off by Sirius's scoffing. "You have something to say Black spit it out," Moody growled.

"We get to help Remus after a full moon for the first time in months, and you want us to believe that your dragging us away is a coincidence?"

James turned to stare at his best friend. Sirius could be opinionated and loud, but James rarely saw him be so defiant toward another member of the Order, especially when it came to missions or work that could gather important intel. Sirius loved doing things for the Order. He loved getting out and fighting, no petty disagreement had ever gotten in the way of that before.

James studied Sirius closer. He had the wild eyes of someone who hadn't slept, but Sirius wasn't usually bothered by lack of sleep. James also hadn't seen him drinking. The only other thing that could get Sirius so riled up was, of course, his friends. Something was on his mind, something beyond the obvious.

James turned to Moody. He was scanning Sirius with the same intensity James just had. The old Auror opened his mouth to reply, but Sirius shut him down.

"What do you want with him?" he demanded. He folded his arms protectively over his chest, and it dawned on James what Sirius meant. He was referring to Remus's comment that morning. Waking up on a cold forest floor. He said he felt better than he had in months, even though he looked worse than usual after a full moon. He wanted to know what was going on on Remus's missions.

"What are you getting at?" Moody asked.

"Come on old man. I know you and Dumbledore are schemers, plotters. Certainly, you've got some grand plan for him. Is Remus just some pawn in your game? Are you fine with him dying for you? I know Remus, he might be fine with dying, but I'm not ready for him to become a martyr for something stupid, so what's going on."

James swallowed, he didn't want to admit it, and wouldn't have asked the way Sirius was, but he too wanted to know. What was Dumbledore's plan? What was Moody's?

Moody's eye spun angrily in its socket. His other eye was burning with indignation.

Sirius continued, "Is that why you think dragging us away right now is okay? Because it won't matter in a few months."

"I promise you, lad, I'm no schemer." Moody glared, his voice full of no-nonsense ire. "Dumbledore may be a man for wild plans, but I'm just here to fight a good fight and to keep my people safe, which would be much easier if prats like you did what you were told."

"Really?" Sirius laughed wryly, "Because the days he comes back looking like death from those Merlin-be-damned packs sure say otherwise"

"Yes. Really." Moody snapped. He set Sirius was a steely stare, "Remus Lupin is a talented wizard, with certain specials skills, yes. But he's also a member of my team, and I protect my team."

"We're supposed to believe-"  
Moody slammed a hand into Sirius's chest, pushing him back up against the wall, and pinning him with his arm. With a growl, he told Sirius, "I've lost too many good Aurors in the line of duty not to do everything in my power to save my men. I would do anything to keep even you, the son of blood purists safe and alive. I would not put Lupin's life in danger."

Sirius contorted his face, and from deep in his throat he mimicked his parent's words, spat them back at Moody, "He's just a half-blood. Just a werewolf," James knew what he was trying to do, prove a point, but the words, coming from Sirius's mouth were hard to swallow. He hated seeing the rage in Sirius's eyes as he repeated back the other side's beliefs. "This world thinks he's nothing. They could kill him, and no one would bat an eye. You wouldn't bat an-"

Moody pressed harder until Sirius couldn't speak.

"I would do anything," Moody said. Sirius twitched under Moody's arm, "to keep him alive." Sirius glared. Breathed in, then slowly relaxed. "His missions are dangerous." Moody finished. "But I'm doing everything I can to keep an eye on him while he's in the field."

After a minute Sirius nodded, and Moody released him. Sirius stumbled to regain his footing.

Sirius readjusted his robe and decided, "Take Lily." He caught Moody's eye one more time and said, "I'm staying here with Remus. He looks like hell, and the 'anything' I would do to save him, involves saving his spirit too."

James looked to Sirius. He wanted to go on Moody's mission. One of them should go, and if Sirius was offering up Lily, he wanted to be there with her. Sirius nodded that that was right. That was what should happen, and James turned to Moody.

"Peter and I will go too," he said. "I'll talk to Pete about it."

Moody bounced his attention back and forth between James and Sirius, then nodded.

"Be at the Rue Downs at 6, right stay past sunset, and look for any trace of Death Eaters or missing dark objects."

James nodded, and he and Sirius turned to leave. Halfway down the hall, they heard Moody apparate away.

James exhaled, and slowed. Something that had been burning in him since Sirius's outburst finally seeped out of his mouth, "Don't say that about Moony again."

Sirius slowed, then stopped. "I'm sorry." He turned to face James and continued, "I can't shake it. I can't shake any of this. We just have to keep saving them." Sirius stared at the floor. Shook his head in disbelief. "All these asshole blood purists need to do is be the bare minimum of decent. They just have to see people as human, as an equal. It takes less than no effort, and they can't even muster that." He inhaled a raggedy breath. "It's killing me, James. It's tearing me apart to have to go back to witches and wizards houses every day and protect them because of someone else's made up delusions about Muggle-borns. It's stupid. It's monumentally fucking stupid."

"Sirius," James said. "I know." He thought about it every day. He thought about it when he rolled out of bed. He thought about it when he looked at Lily. He thought about it as he trudged off on Order missions, determined. "I guess I just-"

"James that was the nice version of things I've heard. My parents would say much worse."

"I know."

"I mean that-"

"I don't like hearing it come out of your mouth."

"Okay, I'm sorry. I won't say it again. Even to prove a point."

"Even to prove a point," James repeated, with a sigh. He straightened up and reminded Sirius, "we would know." He took a breath, "Every death is marked. Every one. Don't say 'just' anything about Remus. Ever again. He's not 'just' anything."

"I know. But he is what we're fighting for-" Sirius mumbled. He pushed a handful of hair away from his face and tried to gather his thoughts. "You and I? We're going to be fine. We stop fighting now, and we will be fine. But he won't. He doesn't have a choice. He has to fight, or he'll die." Sirius looked up at him, suddenly, and the intensity in his eyes caught James off guard, "James, I want him to live. I saw him today, and I just kept thinking. I want him to live. I have to make sure he lives. He gets to survive this one."

James opened his mouth to respond but found nothing coming out. It was true. Remus was the one of them that could be targetted. For no good reason.

Sirius dropped his hand from his hair, let it fall, and turned to head back to the apartment. James shook himself and reached out. He couldn't' let Sirius go, not yet. He grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him around. He made sure to meet his eyes as he said,

"You deserve to live too. You don't have to be the martyr. You can survive this one, too."

Sirius swallowed but didn't respond. He broke away from James, rubbed his nose, and turned to finish the walk back to the apartment. James was left in the hall, feeling cold chills run up his arms. He wanted them all to survive.


	7. Chapter 7: The Rue Downs

"Do we have potions?" Lily grabbed the lip of the bag sitting on the couch and pulled it back enough to look in. Sure enough, a pile of clinking glass bottles rattled in greeting. She covered them with a necessary silencing charm and looked over to Peter and James who were pulling small packs over their shoulders. There had been some negotiating to organize the team and push back the timing by an hour. Peter, with some relief, had to back out of his and Mundungus's mission, but that seemed fine with Moody. The old Auror seemed confused about the legitimacy of it anyway. And though she was tired, Lily had easily agreed to come along if only to keep a sleep deprived, and therefore trigger happy, Sirius from going on a reconnaissance-only trip to a dangerous landfill.

Remus had only just recently woken. He was desperately trying to keep the late afternoon sun from getting into his eyes as he ate some of the of crackers Sirius and James had bought for him earlier that day.

"Where are you going again?" Remus peaked up at the trio through a small slit in his eyelids. He couldn't seem to believe that Moody was sending them to a wasteland.

"Rue Downs," James said again. "We've been running around all afternoon looking for materials and brewing potions. Don't you remember us waking you up every twenty minutes banging around and accidentally exploding potions?"

Remus stared up a the ceiling for a minute, trying to recall what, if anything, he remembered from that afternoon. He looked to his left, Sirius was on the floor leaning against the couch and shuffling a deck of cards,

"Don't look at me, I'm a loyalist. I've been right here all afternoon."

"Rem, We wouldn't have done it if it weren't important," Peter said, though Remus didn't look the least bit put off by their abandonment. "They're looking for something out in the landfill. There might even be a secret hideout."

Remus nodded at Peter then glanced at Sirius. "You should go with them," he said giving the dark haired man a small shove with his leg.

Sirius scoffed.

"You and James are the best at infiltration," Remus encouraged.

"I'm not going. If I do, it'll only satisfy Moody's power play."

"It's not a power play, Sirius," Lily cut him off. "He's busy. Everyone is overworked, and this is what we're good at. He wouldn't be sending us-"

"If it weren't important. Yes thank you captain obvious," Sirius growled. "You're husband already pointed that out." He stopped shuffling the cards and set them on the table. "You want tea, Moony?"

Remus covered his eyes with his bandaged hand and didn't answer.

"I'll make peppermint," Sirius decided and walked into the kitchen. James fiddled with his wand, making certain it was secure in his new wrist holster under his sleeve. He knew he should talk to Sirius. He needed to know his friend was okay.

He silently gestured to Lily and followed Sirius into the kitchen. His friend was pulling tea bags from a tin on the counter, while the kettled filled itself with water. James waved up a silencing charm before speaking.

"Sirius, we're heading out, do you have everything under control here? Are you going to be okay?" James leaned into the kitchen door and watched Sirius slam a kettle onto the stove with a wave of his wand.

"Sirius, Moody isn't after us," James reminded. "We're all in this fight together."

"I know," Sirius said, tapping the kettle and watching it whistle with heat almost instantly. "Sorry," he finally mumbled. "I should be going with you today."

"You're fine," James said breezily. "You're stubborn, backtracking now would ruin your perfect record of defiance."

"It would." Sirius smirked and then admitted, "I'm being selfish. I was-"

"Scared," James finished for him, and he didn't even need to see Sirius nodding to know he was right. They were all scared. Scared of losing Remus, scared of being used, scared of losing the war, scared of hurting, scared of fighting, scared of not fighting. It was with them constantly. Sometimes day it wore them down more than others.

"Stay here. Take a break, and hang out with Remus. You both deserve it."

Sirius sniffed, waved a hand to let the silencing charm fall, and nodded.

James reached out to smack Sirius in the shoulder. A brotherly pat.

"Be safe," Sirius said as James walked out of the kitchen to meet up with Lily and Peter.

"You too," James said, on reflex.

"He alright?" Peter muttered as James stopped next to him in the dining room.

"Tired," James answered. Peter nodded. "We ready to go?" he asked the small group.

"Ready as I'll ever be." Peter tried to put on a brave face. Behind him, Lily smiled assuredly.

"Let's do this." She grinned, and the trio headed for the front door.

At the door James stopped, "we'll be back before you know it." he told Remus, who gave thumbs up but didn't bother to open his eyes.

"Be safe," the werewolf repeated Sirius's words as they stepped into the hall.

"You too," and with that James shut the door and followed the others down the hall to their apparation point.

* * *

They apparated from the hallway and right to the center of the Rue Downs Landfill. It was one of the places most carefully hidden from Muggles. If the Ministry was a stronghold against muggles, the Landfill was a fortress. There were broken wizarding objects for miles in every direction. Spilled potions, rags soiled in sparking liquids, pieces of busted brooms, and old moving photographs. Everything there was magical, and it was universally agreed that no muggle should ever stumble upon it.

Despite that, most of wizard-kind knew how to get there. There was no magical municipal trash pick up, but something had to be done with all the trash bags full of screaming and swirling bits and bobs. So the witches and wizards of Britain found unique ways to send their waste away to the Rue Downs. While some families had bins that ate their waste and spat it out amongst the hills, others simply apparated their bags out there during annual spring cleanings.

There, the trash sat in piles, sometimes decomposing sometimes waiting for the Department of Magical Waste to deal with it, or sometimes catching on fire and disappearing forever in a blaze of glory.

Because of the hundreds of years of pileup, the landfill had become one of the most interesting places in wizarding Britain, even if no one made any special trips out there. Mixed among the magical artifacts were food scraps and carcasses of deceased pets. There was more to drive the average wizard away than there was to draw them in, but if Moody said Death Eaters had been seen there, then James, Lily, and Peter would find out why.

James looked around himself. He hadn't been to the Rue Downs since he was a child, after a rather overwhelming house cleaning. It had amazed him then and still did. The mounds of trash were loud and colorful. Sparks of every shade and brightness whistled up into the air. All types of magic were smashed together and intertwined in the large piles of waste. It didn't smell horrible. A magically hazy scent of sun-dried laundry wafted past him. There was so much magic in the air that James swore he could reach out and touch it.

He was admiring a yard of rags that were rapidly shifting colors when Lily pushed a bottle into his chest. "I would drink that if I were you, a bit of protection against-" Lily gestured around herself at the hills of trash. A small nutcracker at the bottom of a pile waved at them before his head popped off in a shower of red sparks. "-That" Lily finished. James jumped away from the nearest pile where a doll's hand was reaching for his leg, and popped the cork off the potion. "Who knows what diseases are lurking here," Lily added, as she watched a glowing glob of slime ooze from a wooden rocking chair and slither down another pile of garbage.

James downed the spicy potion and turned to the other two. "So where do we start?"

They were on dusty ground; A mock dirt road between the piles of garbage. Underneath their feet were certainly layers of buried waste, but they didn't want to think about that. It was easier to imagine they were on an old road. There was no map for this land, they would just have to walk, and hope they didn't circle back in on themselves.

Lily looked around but appeared as stumped as he felt. He knew this place was dozens of miles long. They could be lost for years. James had heard stories of people going mad in the maze of waste. He didn't fancy joining them.

"Maybe if we try to circle outward?" James said. Lily pulled her pack around her front and started rummaging in it.

"I'm sure I have a spell that will help us track people." She mumbled to herself.

"I could try to map-" James started, but he was cut off by Peter squeaking and jumping backward into him.

"Did you hear that?" the man breathed.

James caught Peter and, a bit winded from the impact, answered,

"No."

Lily was looking around herself, carefully. "I heard something, but it was probably just an animal," she reasoned. "Large rat maybe?" James tried not to think of the strange animals that might be living in the magical wasteland. In all honesty, a rat seemed tame compared to what his imagination was conjuring. He nudged Peter away from him, and the man regained his footing.

"Of course…hah, silly me." Peter brushed himself off, stepped away from James and tried to pretend like he wasn't still frantically looking for the source of the noise.

"Ah-ha." Lily grinned, pulling a small sheet of paper from the bottom of her bag. She unrolled it and scrolled to the bottom of the page.

"Melinda gave me this," she mumbled, then dove back into her bag. She pulled out a palm-sized orb full of purple fog.

"If I brewed this right, and use the right spell-" Lily held up the piece of parchment where a dozen new magical terms were scribbled "then the fog will swirl when we're standing somewhere where our quarry has walked recently.

"And our quarry is?" James asked.

"Well, in this case, Bellatrix Lestrange. She's the best I could get. I needed something of the person I was tracking and all Sirius could give me was one of Bellatrix's old hairbands."

"What are the chances we end up seeing where Sirius has been?"

Lily frowned, "50/50."

"Well. That's better than nothing."

"Yup." Lily replaced the paper in her bag, tapped her wand to the orb, and said the magical words. After a moment, where nothing happened she said, "So. Uh. I guess we should start walking and see if we get something?"

"Of course." James looked left and then right then left again, and began walking down the dusty paths between hills of trash. The others followed, and soon they were trudging along at a steady pace, flinching at oozing books and crackling appliances. Cursed toasters and teapots whisted screamed and sang. They ducked sparks and projectile doilies. Piles of trash caught fire without any stimulus, and there were more than a few things reaching out to nip at them as they walked by.

They walked for two hours, getting nowhere, and picking up more than a few scratches. The sun had begun to set when they decided they needed a guide. They had just walked around another random pile of trash, and James was getting the sensation that he had seen that particular pile of rags before. He cocked his head to the side, and they burst into purple and grey flames. He took a step back but didn't pull out his wand. He had seen enough random fires in the last two hours to not be concerned. What did concern him was the sudden appearance of an old man in dust-colored robes. He appeared out of nowhere and paid them no mind. He had eyes only for the purple fire. He growled and with a wave of his wand doused it with a wave of thick green water.

"Murphey's fire," he mumbled to himself then turned and jumped, startled to see the gathered group. "Whacho doing here! Dangerous place to be wanderin' around at night." He motioned back to the fire he had just put out. A small purple flame flared back up defiantly. He snapped it out with a flick of his wand and turned back to them.

"Well?"

James fingered the wand in his sleeve. The last thing he wanted was to fight with someone in the middle of a volatile trash heap, but he would if he needed to.

Lily had no such plans though. She put on a calm smile and said simply,

"Hello sir, I know it's late, but it's been a busy day back at the office. We just came to talk with Johnson about a possible misuse of muggle artifact issue."

The man looked at the three of them suspiciously, "All three of you?"

"Yes sir, These two are actually with the Auror department. Johnson said this piece of trash has been causing a rather large bit of trouble."

The man continued to look at them, but then must have made up his mind because he spat into the ground and waved them on. "He should be back at his office, that old building back at the entrance. Can't believe you missed it. Don't get lost, and don't touch anything."

He looked ready to disapparate when Lily called out,

"Have you perhaps seen any other strangers around here in the last few days?"

"People here?" He pondered the question then said, "No it's usually vacant. Just me and Johnson and the bags of trash."

"No one unusual?" The man looked back and forth quickly. He looked at James for a long moment then stepped up closer. He seemed to make up his mind about something then said, "Mile that way." He nodded south. "Strangers in black. Didn't want to say nothing. They didn't seem like the right type. You know what I mean."

"You're secret is safe with us," Lily promised. "Thank you."

The man nodded and stepped back. "As I was saying. Nobody here but me and the dynamite Rats." He nodded politely, then dissaparated as quickly as he had appeared.

"That went well," Lily grinned.

"Dynamite rats." Peter swallowed nervously.

James ribbed him in the side, "You a Gryffindor or what?"

Peter rubbed his side and repeated, "Gryffindor."

Lily started walking. "C'mon boys. You heard the man. People in black due south."

She grinned back at them, and James hurried to catch up.

They walked a mile south and began crisscrossing in and out of hills until the fog in Lily's orb began to swirl.

"We're on to something," she said, looking around. They weren't in a particularly impressive area, but if Bellatrix had been there, James wanted to know why.

"Let's try this way." Lily nodded to the left, and they walked through two close stacks of waste, trying their best to step carefully.

The stench hit James like a train. He pulled his shirt up over his nose as Peter groaned,

"Ugg potions waste."

James looked over his shoulder, and saw that Peter was holding his nose,

"That is vile," James agreed. "Apparently the magic air freshener doesn't work here."

Lily coughed in front of him, then her curse turned to one of surprise. "Holy hell." She stopped in her tracks, stumbled and held out a hand to keep James from moving any farther forward. James glanced ahead and was instantly taken aback.

"Holy Merlin's Beard."

Even in the dim moonlight, James could see it. A deep hole apparently exploded into the earth. He looked at Lily's outstretched hand. The fog was spinning wildly in the orb.

"I'm going to imagine they were here," James said simply.

"Oh. I would say so," Lily agreed.

James looked back down. The hole was about fifty feet across, and 15 feet deep. The sides were sloping, a mix of trash and dirt. The hole was flattened out in the center, but the floor was a layer of magical detritus, nonetheless.

James and Lily only had a moment to look around before Peter tugged them back into the small alley they had walked through.

"Hide," he hissed and pointed across the hole.

James' eyes grew wide. Several cloaked figures were approaching the hole from the far side, winding down a wider dirt path. He couldn't make any of them out. It was too dark, but when the acoustics were just right, he could hear their voices.

"It is here?"

"It is, my Lord." James's stomach clenched. My lord.

"Oh god," Lily breathed. They were not prepared for this. They were not prepared to face Voldemort.

James leaned into the wall of trash, shocked. Moody would want them to stay put. Reconnaissance, he had insisted. But Voldemort was here, feet from them. Unsuspecting. James could hardly contain his nerves. He and Lily hadn't seen the monster since Azkaban almost five months ago. They had just barely survived then. What would they do now?

"What do you think they're after," Lily whispered. James shook his head. Maybe a tool, or a weapon? They would want it, wouldn't they? Or they would at least want it out of the hands of their enemies.

"Lily. What do we do?" James asked. He wanted to fight to at least find out what they were talking about, and then, if they were lucky, steal it.

"We wait," Lily breathed. Peter nodded, but James couldn't get the thought out of his head. They needed to fight.

James inhaled the nasty rotting potion scent and tried to focus. He needed to zero in on the conversation that was still happening. They were still talking as they descended into the hole. Delicately walking with their black robes sweeping over piles of rubbish.

"And what of the switch?"

"Not yet!"

"And why is that? What are we waiting for?"

"The second in line is still not one of ours, we have to wait, move politically until we are certain that when it falls, we will be there to take him on."

"The switch will happen then?"

"As sure as the Mouriah will bloom."

The Dark Lord laughed high and piercing. James felt like someone had stabbed him between the ribs with an icicle. He couldn't stand by, but he also knew he couldn't or shouldn't take him on.

But there was also so much he wanted clarified. What they were talking about, what they were looking for? Why they had dug a giant hole in a landfill? He chanced another peak around the edge of their hiding place. The group, six cloaked figures, had reached the bottom of the hole. They now stood in a circle around something James couldn't make out.

He needed to see, just a peak. That was still reconnaissance, right? Moody couldn't hate him for that. That was still under mission directives.

"We should call for backup," Lily mumbled.

James leaned farther forward, tried to squint. He tapped his eyes, to increase his senses, but even with the heightened awareness, nothing became clear. He tapped away the spell and leaned back. "What if we went in?" He whispered to Lily.

She shook her head, a definitive no.

James knew they could apparate away at the first sign of trouble, and the first sign of trouble would be swift. All they needed to do was find out what the Death Eaters were after.

He looked left and right. They had a rip cord; Apparating. If something when wrong, they could easily apparate away. James leaned forward again, and with a small twist of his wrist, a broken cupboard on the far side of the hole exploded into a firework show. A marauder distract-the-crowd favorite.

James quickly turned his eyes to the group, hoping they would move and give him a clear view of the object they were staring at. One death eater stepped away, but that did nothing to clear up James's view.

Lily grabbed his wrist. Glared.

James looked back at her. Determined. He could see the gears turning in her head. She was startled, but she didn't think what he had done was the worst idea. James tried to hold down a grin. He wasn't giving away their position, and in a place like this, cupboards exploding couldn't be that unusual.

Except,

"I thought you had guarded this space against such occurrences?" Voldemort seethed.

Two Death Eater's eyes were bouncing around the hole, looking for… something. James pressed himself against the wall of their hiding place. They had been found out.

Lily's grip on her wand tightened, prepared to call for backup. Peter steadied himself.

James cursed. They couldn't leave yet. Not until they had more information.

"Of course we did, My Lord." Someone stuttered.

James should have known better. They had come here, protected it, put up as many spells as they could. Their dearest Voldemort craved immortality. He wouldn't let his Death Eaters walk him into the landfill death trap without clearing it first.

James thought they had avoided the piercing eyes of the Death Eaters when a toy at their feet exploded into purple sparks. James turned to cover Lily. He could feel burnt bits of wood cut through his robes and prick at his face. Peter cursed. Lily pushed out from under James and returned fire. Why not. They had been discovered anyway. Might as well fight, might as well gather as much intel as possible. By the time James had spun around to join her Lily had already disarmed one of the guards, who quickly apparated away. Rookie.

James could see her eyes flash to the center of the circle. She was stalling, clearly as curious as him. James pushed himself off the wall and looked down. Whatever it was, was too small to see in the dark. Lily shot out another spell, and James could hear Peter casting something behind him. There was shouting from below. Several spells were shot off. Two more Death Eaters disapparated. Apparently, they didn't find three Order Members to be much of a threat. James could still see Voldemort, in the darkest robes standing near the object, whatever it was. James spun around Lily to crouch on the other side of their hiding place. He shot off another jinx. It hit the shoulder of the shortest Death Eater. They growled and returned fire, but their aim was off. The spell missed James completely exploding into the ground below. James laughed, but his mirth was short lived. The ground shook. The spell hadn't been off at all. The broken pieces of a baby crib he was balanced on slipped, and then the earth crumbled out from beneath him.

Lily aimed down. Orange sparks shot from her wand as she tried to stabilize the earth, and when that didn't work, a doe shot from her wand, stampeding away into the night. It would be a silent message, but Moody would find them.

Her Patronus was the last thing James saw before the avalanche of trash took him over. He tried to control his fall, but the ground was unsteady, full of nails and sharp corners, magical items colliding, exploding under his hands, soggy old blankets and trash bags tumbled over his back. He could hear Lily yell out to him,

"I think we need to go," but when James closed his eyes to apparate away, nothing happened. He tried again, but something was off.

"James. Go!" Lily demanded again.

He couldn't do anything. The chaos around him began to settle, just in time for a curse to shatter a wooden box above his head.

"I can't," James yelled back. He rolled around so he was facing the Death Eaters. He shielded himself against an unknown curse and shot off a disarming spell. He gathered his bearings. They had tumbled to wihtin feet of the Death Eaters.

James tried to lift himself up but the same power that was keeping him from apparating, was keeping him from standing.

"Can you go?" He asked Lily. Perhaps it was just temporary anti-Apparation wards.

"Yes. So can Peter."

James brushed away the bits of cloth, fuzz, and detritus from his clothes, hoping some magic object sticking to him was the culprit, but when he tried again to apparate, nothing happened. He defended himself from a line of blue sparks and resigned himself to a duel.

"Peter go!" Lily yelled. "I'll get to James." Lily was on the other side of a pile of trash, but if she could reach him, they could get away.

James flicked off a curse, just as a sharp pain sliced through his shoulder. His split attention wasn't doing him any favors. He shielded a second curse, but a third hit him in the side. He fought back, keeping an eye on Lily as he went. Peter still hadn't left. He was barely holding off attacks somewhere behind and to the right of James. He knew Peter wouldn't leave. Not until he knew they would all get to safety.

Lily was moving quickly. James shot off a disarming hex. Only two death eaters were actively fighting. The third was- what were they doing? Their wand was moving, but nothing was happening.

There was a loud crash behind him and another explosion of debris. James heard Peter yell and fall to the ground. James tried to glance over his shoulder to check on his friend, but he was finding it hard to move. He jerked, flicked away a spell.

Voldemort looked down, to his treasure.

James tried to aim a spell, while Voldemort was distracted, but his arm felt heavy. Had he been hit by a slowing spell? He felt slow. He felt like he had to fight to move.

"Is it working?" Voldemort asked. The short death eater, who wasn't fighting, nodded.

Was what working? Jame sent up a shield spell, barely blocking a hex, and tried to return fire, but it was like slogging through cold molasses. Because of his slow reactions, Lily was working double time. She growled as a hex made it through her shield, but parried and a second later a Death Eater had fallen to the ground. James wanted to cheer, but couldn't muster the strength. He felt foggy. Instead, he looked down at Voldemort's feet. He could finally see their goal. A wooden box. Voldemort opened it with delicate fingers and pulled out a crown, small and glittering. It was gaudy, evil. Just his style.

Voldemort moved to pick it up, but his hand was smashed away by a spray of sparks. He pulled his hand away and shook it. James could see his sneering face as he whipped out his wand. James lifted his own. He had recited half a spell when his tongue froze in his mouth. He twitched as a strange fog began to blur his vision.

James could hear rather than see Voldemort shoot off his first attacking spell of the night, "Crucio." James flinched, but it wasn't aimed toward him. He was being ignored. Lily snapped the spell away with a flick of her wrist. The short death eater hadn't moved, but the other fighter slowed, watched his Lord prepare to duel.

James tried again, "expelliarm-" but his voice was cut off. It was no use. Whatever was keeping him from apparating was now keeping him from fighting, and soon it would keep him from moving at all. It was getting hard to breathe. It felt almost like- but no that couldn't be right. Moody had trained them over and over to fight the unforgivables.

Somewhere behind him, Peter was trying to pull himself out from underneath a heavy wooden desk. His wand had tumbled away. Lily was alone but unafraid.

She stepped closer to James, and took a defensive stance.

"Peter," Lily said. "Get James and go."

Voldemort took her moment of concern to attack. Lily side-stepped, returned fire. And then it was blur of light until Lily was thrown back, landing in a heap near James.

He fought to stand. He had never fought harder in his life. He felt as if he might tear his body out from his skin, but there was nothing he could do to move. Calm fog tried to drown him. Lily rolled, managed to land a hit on Voldemort's foot. James struggled. He had to help Lily.

Lily pushed herself back up, struck out. "Peter get James and go!" She demanded again. The words came to James slowly. Had Peter broken free? Where was he? All James could see was Lily. Fighting.

He didn't need saved. Peter didn't need to save him. He could do it himself- no. James could barely keep his arm up, aimed forward, at nothing. He couldn't stand, couldn't move. A body collapsed into him. Lily lashed out, grinned when her spell hit Voldemort's shoulder.

"My Lord." The short Death Eater caught Voldemort's attention, "It's working." Voldemort grinned and the Death Eater quickly refocussed on his unknown task.

What was working? Jame's head spun. Voldemort threw one last lazy spell Lily's way. She shot it aside.

Peter's grip on his shoulder tightened. Voldemort stepped back while his Death Eater took back up his post, fighting Lily. Voldemort reached for his trophy one more time but this time Peter was able to bat his hand away. They wouldn't leave until they knew Lily could escape as well.

Voldemort rose to his feet, hissed. There was no remorse in his tone when he lifted his wand and struck out, "Crusio." Lily was distracted, the spell his her square in the chest, but that was also the moment the cracking of apparation began.

First Moody appeared.

Then Edgar.

The Prewetts.

Hestia.

Peter's hand on James's shoulder slackened with relief. James blinked. Something was coming back to him. Life? He felt alive. He dove for Lily. Relieved that he could move again. She was fine. Breathing.

"Lily." He brushed her hair away from her face, flinched when a rogue spell split the sky above them.

"Get the crown." She said, nodding forward. "Get it." She panted, before letting her head drop back to the ground. James didn't know what she meant, his brain felt like scrambled eggs, but then it hit him. He turned. Both Death Eaters were fighting now, shielding Voldemort from the onslaught of spells.

"Accio crown," James yelled, and the object slammed into his outstretched hand. The last thing he saw before he apparated Lily and himself away was Voldemort turning, arm raised as green sparks shot out of his wand.


End file.
